PM: Get blogging, guys!
2009-01-12 22:15
Raushan Nurshayeva and Olzhas Auyezov
Astana - Kazakh Prime Minister Karim
Masimov on Monday told his ministers to start personal blogs to
get them closer to the people of the former Soviet state.
"I have opened a blog on the government website," Masimov
told a government meeting.
"So I order all ministers... to start
personal blogs where people will be able to ask you questions
that you must answer."
Masimov started his own blog last week with an introductory
post that has already received 152 comments, some of which were
complaints about the quality of tap water in villages. He has
since ordered the cabinet to investigate the criticisms.
About 14% of the steppe nation's 16 million people
have internet access, according to official data.
Many users
complain of growing censorship and domestic media rarely
question state policies.
Kazakhstan, which has been singled out by Western rights
activists for its lack of press freedom, has vowed to step up
the pace of liberal reforms before it takes over the
chairmanship in 2010 of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Europe's top democracy watchdog.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a former communist party
boss, has ruled Khazakhstan with an iron fist since 1989. He has
never been elected in a vote judged free and fair by OSCE
monitors.