Pandemic revealed ineffectiveness of public administration in Azerbaijan

Baku/14.05.21/Turan: Information about conducting serious structural reforms in the field of governance has been spread in some media and social networks. It is reported that the number of existing ministries and government services in the country will be reduced.

Currently, there are 17 ministries and 7 government services in the country. For comparison, there are 11 ministries in Germany, and 12 in Georgia. Some experts believe that Azerbaijan has a very large government apparatus. Is there a need for such management in Azerbaijan? Have the structural reforms carried out in this area in recent years been effective?

In recent years, certain changes have taken place in the structure of government bodies in Azerbaijan. In 2017, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies merged, on the basis of which the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies was created. In 2019, by the decree of President Ilham Aliyev, the Ministry of Taxes, the State Committee for Property Issues and the Agency for Antimonopoly Policy and Consumer Market Supervision were merged into the Ministry of Economy.

 The MP Sabir Rustamkhanli told Turan that Azerbaijan as a state has great traditions of statehood, but most of the history of this statehood was ruled by the monarchical method.

“There were padishahs, khans; despite they had a very strong legal and judicial system, they ruled more individually, transferring power from father to son. At that time there was no need for ministries, there were such positions as minister, lawyer,” he said.

The MP noted that public administration is a complex system, and each nation creates it in accordance with its own traditions.

“Therefore, there is no dogma here that there should be a specific winner, and in accordance with it, all states must build their apparatus,” he said.

Rustamkhanli stressed that the system in Azerbaijan remained from Soviet times. “Today there are 17, tomorrow may be 15. That is, if which Ministries are no longer needed or which can be merged, then the process will go with them. In any case, a lot of work has been done in this area in Azerbaijan in recent years. I think in a few years this issue will improve by itself. "

Economist Gubad Ibadoglu noted that the processes taking place in Azerbaijan during the pandemic showed that both public administration and the management of state-owned companies should be improved.

“There is now a need to implement a new public administration system that provides financial efficiency, transparency and satisfaction in terms of serving citizens,” he said. The expert noted that from time to time, the President signs decrees on improving public administration in Azerbaijan.

“There is a Presidential Decree on some measures to improve public administration in the Republic of Azerbaijan, signed on November 24, 2016. At the same time, on January 14, 2019, the President signed a decree on improving public administration. There is a definite attempt, but no result. Because the political will is weak and these decrees remain on paper,” he said.

According to the World Bank Government's Performance Index, the situation is even worse in 2019 compared to 2018, says the economist. "Corruption in public administration is high. This is confirmed by the reports of the World Bank. That is, work to improve governance is a requirement of the day," Ibadoglu said.

He noted that the pandemic also showed the need to make changes in some areas.

“This state apparatus is a big burden on the state budget. The opportunities are not as wide as they used to be, and there is not as much money from oil as it used to be. Therefore, the presidential decrees related to governance, as well as the issues outlined in the Strategic Road Maps, must be resolved,” he said. Ibadoglu believes that the number of ministries and committees should be reduced.

“Currently there are 17 ministries in Azerbaijan. I propose to reduce their number to 11. Because many ministries repeat one another. The main function of the ministries is to determine the state policy in this area. However, they are also engaged in commercial activities. And this is categorically unacceptable," the expert noted. -0-