KAZAKHSTAN: LIFE ON THE STEPPE, FEBRUARY 7 - 13

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000262

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI KDEM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: LIFE ON THE STEPPE, FEBRUARY 7 - 13

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1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.


2. (U) This is another in a series of weekly cables drawn mostly
from public media, as well as think-tank, NGO, and opposition
web-sites, selected to show the diversity of life in Kazakhstan, and
information about it available to citizens of Kazakhstan. Our goal
is to choose what might interest and be of use to various end-users
in Washington and -- especially -- to provide a more complex view
from the other side of the world, illustrating the vitality (and
sometimes the quirkiness) of discourse available to citizens of
Kazakhstan.

PICKETERS BRAVE COLD TO PROTEST HOUSING SITUATION


3. (U) On February 6, a handful of people picketed outside the
office of Prime Minister Karim Masimov in Astana to demand
government action against construction companies that have failed to
deliver on commitments to complete purchased housing units. Calling
themselves the Movement for Acceptable Housing, the protestors stood
outside for hours despite sub-zero temperatures and howling winds,
holding signs saying, "If the government can bail out the banks, why
not us?" The group eventually received a letter from the Prime
Minister's office, informing them that the government could not
interfere in what it considered a private commercial matter. A
leader of the group, Saule Tasbulat-Kizi, was clearly unimpressed by
the government's response: "If the government of Kazakhstan can
replace the president of a private bank, or invest taxpayer money in
a private bank, then a statement like this one is a cynical lie,"
she said.

MAYOR'S PATIENCE FINALLY RUNS OUT


4. (U) After listening to citizens' complaints for nearly
twenty-four hours, the acting mayor of Shakhan, a small town in
Karaganda oblast, called the police, who hauled off seven local
women to the police station in a squad car. Acting mayor Karipol
Mukatov told reporters that he listened patiently for hours as the
women complained about rising electricity prices and poor public
service, "but every time I took care of one problem, they would
raise something else." (NOTE: Electricity prices in Karaganda
recently doubled, from 5.52 tenge -- about 3.7 cents -- per kilowatt
hour to 10.03 tenge/kilowatt hour, or 6.8 cents/kwh. END NOTE).
The leader of the group, Svetlana Yerzhimanova, was fined 2500 tenge
(approximately $17),and the other women were let off with a
warning. Immediately after the incident, Nurlan Nigmatulin, the
governor of Karaganda oblast, fired Mukhatov for allowing the women
to spend the night in the mayor's office. Nigmatulin told Mukatov
he should have convinced the women to return home and file a
complaint in writing, rather than holding an illegal, all-night
protest in a government building. Nigmatulin then convened an
extraordinary plenary session of the oblast government, during which
he convinced the power company "Energomunai" to reduce electricity
tariffs to the previous rate of 5.52 tenge per kilowatt hour.

EXTREME ANTI-CRISIS MEASURE


5. (U) A man from the village of Baidibek in the region of South
Kazakhstan named his son Dagdarys, which means "crisis" in Kazakh.
He said that it is now the most popular word, not only in
Kazakhstan, but in the entire world. According to an old Kazakh
custom, giving children names with a negative meaning will protect
them from that very evil.

NEW BLACK AND WHITE CROSSWALKS IN ALMATY


6. (U) On March 1, traffic police in Almaty will station three live
zebras at pedestrian crosswalks throughout the city to underscore
the importance of traffic safety. Police will allow children to
cross the street while riding on a zebra, with the expectation that
riders and motorists alike will go slow and look both ways. The
zebras were a gift from the government of Namibia and will travel
the country following their debut in Almaty.

WOMAN REJECTS NEW APARTMENT, LIVES IN STAIRWELL


7. (U) Balkiya Turarova from the village of Semey in East
Kazakhstan oblast received a subsidized apartment from the state,
but it was in such poor condition that she moved instead to the

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stairwell of the building and sent her kids to live with relatives.
Turarova has been living in the stairwell for more than a month and
said that as many as 50 people planned to join her. She pays
approximately $200 a month for the mortgage on the apartment, the
walls and windows of which are apparently covered with mold. The
health inspector's office in Semey reported that the apartment meets
acceptable living standards and conforms to the city's building
code.

"SLAVE MARKET" FOR DAY LABORERS


8. (U) Dozens of men from all over Kyzylorda oblast gather each
morning in the regional capital to offer their services for hire at
so-called "slave markets." Although the men do not hold regular
jobs, they are also not officially registered as unemployed. One
man said he went to the local employment office and was offered work
as a janitor at such a low wage that he refused to take the job.
The informal markets for day laborers are unregulated and men are
sometimes mistreated. For example, 25-year old Saulet, nicknamed
"tomato man," was taken to southern Kazakhstan to work for several
months on a tomato plantation, but reportedly was paid nothing after
he finished the job.

HOAGLAND