The southern village of Stara Zburyivka, which has attained nationwide fame in the struggle against bureaucracy, will soon have the Internet
Viktor MARUNIAK: “We are waiting for a new generation of village mayors – well-educated communal leaders”
The information era, in conjunction with the “civil impulse” and true self-government, gives Ukrainian villagers a chance to be more progressive than the lion’s share of city dwellers.
Den has already wrote about Viktor MARUNIAK, mayor of the village of Stara Zburyivka, Hola Prystan District, Kherson oblast, in an article on the specifics of the Ukrainian “self-government gene.” It was about the local commune that formed the Stara Zburyivka Self-Defense Committee to fight the squandering of their lands and to challenge the legal proceedings against the village mayor who had taken an uncompromising stand in this matter. Owing to this story, the Kherson region village became famous all over Ukraine.
When preparing the roundtable “Magdeburg Law: Memory and Practice,” Den and MIM-Kyiv invited Maruniak to take part in discussing the problems of local government. Although Magdeburg Law was, naturally, applicable to cities, the most important thing is the self-government principle, the sign of a “living” segment in the country. Stara Zburyivka doubtlessly belongs to this very segment. Incidentally, the village will soon get access to the Internet, a “door to the world.” It is of little wonder, for residents of this small southern village can give urban dwellers, even Kyivites, a run for their money, as far as progressiveness of views is concerned. At any rate, the information era and a rational approach to, so to speak, the “mastering” of it provides this chance.
Unfortunately, Maruniak was unable to take part in our roundtable, but he promptly agreed to communicate with us in the format of an interview.
“Successful local government is not so much an ‘advanced’ village mayor as, at least, his team. If we fail to do something, nobody ‘on top’ will help us. I only wish nobody would create problems.”
Which of the local government problems is the main obstacle to your work?
“Self-government will only be viable if people come to understand that no other than they are the real force. But in the vast majority of villages, people perceive self-government as just a house with a flag in the village center, in which there is a bunch of individuals who can do nothing. They lack money, motivation, and resources. In the overwhelming majority of cases, there is really a shortage of funds for ‘grassroots initiatives,’ but we must try to find a way out of this situation. It is totally unacceptable to just while away the time sitting at the village council.
“People are accustomed today to thinking that the village council is a strange organization which in fact does no good except for issuing some kind of papers. This image of local government was formed long ago. The national mass media are also to blame for this stereotype. This image of self-government is being built deliberately, so that people do not take us seriously or believe that we (and, accordingly, they, who elected us) can change anything for the better.
“What are the advantages of a village mayor over the district and oblast authorities? We are at a stone’s throw from people. If we have done something good, they can thank us, if we’ve done something bad, they will speak differently. For the grassroots to form a positive image of local government as a real viable force, we should be given some effective levers of influence.”
What exactly levers of influence does the local government lack?
“Firstly, it is imperative that the law ‘On Local Government’ be rewritten. The village council is not a state body, but the state has shifted many of its functions onto us, without adequately funding this. The state constantly monitors the way we fulfill the instructions of local administrations. They do not seem to be tired of instructing us to do even the most mindless things. For example, I was recently told to form a team in order to pick up all the dead fish from the river. Nobody wants to know why the fish is dying, but still they tell us to urgently collect and bury it somewhere. They issued a command, but the village council has no boats, money for the fuel, or people to form the team at its disposal.
“Everybody wants to see, at least on paper, some work being done. Sometimes I can’t take it any more and cable to the district center: ‘Command taken. Oranges to be loaded in barrels.’
“What hinders a full-fledged performance of local government bodies are district administrations in their present-day shape and with the powers they currently wield. Any village mayor will tell you so. The most that they should do is monitor our decisions, administer the law, and consult – not instruct – us.
“At present, village councils are only in charge of the land inside the village – what is outside the village is the administration’s preserve. The administration can give anybody some land outside the village (by the river, in the forest, on the seashore, etc.), while the village council will not even know about this. When I requested the now former district prosecutor at least to inform us that the land had already been stolen, so that some old woman did not take a cow to graze there and thus provoke a conflict with the ‘new Ukrainians,’ I was told that the law did not provide for notifying us. Can there really be normal self-government if there are laws like this?”
