Oleksandr Rudomanov: "How to be a caring citizen?"

The primary task of any civil servant should be to satisfy the wishes of the community, at the same time, it is the duty of the community to inform civil servants about these wishes. Moreover, civil servants at all levels need to be monitored for the quality of their performance of tasks set by the community. The community is all of us, so each of us must do our part. In order to control, Ukraine needs people who think critically, who act instead of complaining, who care about the environment and those around them.

How to be a controller, what and how each of us can do, he tells Oleksandr Olehovych Rudomanov, correspondent of the online publication "Left Bank" (LB.ua), volunteer, blogger. A man of many interests, he is known, among other things, for submitting many appeals to local officials, informing the public about the results and advising those who wish to join similar initiatives.

Oleksandr, please tell me what exactly needs to be done to effectively influence the quality of officials' work?

It's simple: imagine that you care about everything. So you walk down the street, look around, and suddenly you notice that there are advertisements pasted on a tree. Wonder if it should be like that? Other examples: exposed cables at the station, construction debris not removed, missing brodery, unsatisfactory sanitary condition of the toilet at the public transport stop, etc.

Next, ask who should take care of solving the found problem. For example, it is obvious that in order to fill up withered frames or twist light bulbs in the entrance, to find out whether the trees near the apartment building are watered, you need to submit an application to ZHEK. And if the university classrooms are cold and sanitary standards are not followed, you can make a request to the Ministry of Education. You can write to the Ministry of Infrastructure and offer to rename the street from the communist street in honor of one of the fallen soldiers of the ATO, or complain if the conductor in the train smokes, or when you came to buy a ticket, and you are told: "We have a telegram, we do not sell tickets if you have a student ID ".

Everyone can do it.

...And how exactly to write?

And it's simple too. You may not even know who is responsible for this or that problem. There are contact centers where those who know to whom to send this or that complaint sit (although, as Kyiv practice shows, not always).

I use  https://ukc.gov.ua. This is the website of the government contact center; through this site, you can leave complaints in electronic format without even getting up from your chair. It is also possible to send complaints not on your own behalf, but on behalf of someone else - if, for example, you are in the middle of the system and do not want to be found out about you. I upload photos and videos of violations to file exchanges and indicate them in the appeal itself. This is a free resource, you only need to register on the website of the government contact center, and you can write an appeal. In addition, there is a government hotline at 0-800-507-309, where complaints can be made even anonymously.

After all, you can write ordinary letters, glue ordinary stamps, take it to the mailbox or post office, or you can write e-mails, because on the websites of many ministries and departments you can find an e-mail address for communication. But it is more resource-intensive than acting through a government contact center.

By the way, there is also a website of the Kyiv contact center for Kyiv residents: https://1551.gov.ua/ , through which you can leave complaints.

how did you start

I read the law "On access to public information", by the way, I recommend it to everyone, it is an extremely useful document. To understand it, you need twenty minutes of free time and desire. After familiarizing yourself with this law, you can easily find out when your house was supposed to be repaired and whether it was done at all. You can find out whether it is legal to sell alcohol near your house, how often your house should be wet cleaned, how many working light bulbs should be in the entrance, etc. It's nice that you don't have to spend money or even get up from your chair for this. I would like to note that I am not talking about payment for electricity, Internet or telephone, and about cases when the amount of requested information is very large. It is important to know that all information is open and available to everyone, unless it is confidential or official information.

The law itself:
http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2939-17
Kyivan:
https://kievcity.gov.ua/…/39_dostup-do-publichnoi-nformatsi…
If you lack self-confidence, then before you get down to business, you can familiarize yourself with the information on this website: dostup.pravda.com.ua.

I once set myself the task of sending three requests for public information every day. Then I got confused in the numbering of requests, what I am being answered and what I want. There were local successes, for example, somewhere they stopped selling alcohol, somewhere the management deprived a policeman of an award. Later, I began to conduct more systematic work, outlined the circle of my primary interests and began to record my successes in blogs, most often on Facebook. Now, I often notice deficiencies in the work of the railway because I often travel in Ukraine. Some shortcomings can be noticed if you just pay attention, for example, once I noticed that the name of the station in Ukrainian was missing. Recently, I wrote about filling the Ukrainian version of the Ukrzaliznytsia website.

Do you have statistics of your appeals and received answers?

I can provide data for May of the current year. I sent 20 requests to the government contact center http://ukc.gov.ua. Of them, 12 have actually been completed, one has been decommissioned, and the others are still being considered. Through the website 1551.gov.ua, I made 36 appeals, ten of them are in the process of consideration, the rest have either already been completed or will be completed later. 

And what do you personally get out of it? What is all this for?

This gives me moral satisfaction. That's a lot. In fact, try it and you will understand what it is about: you have power over the officials, which is given by your banal attentiveness to what is happening around you. You write, point out a flaw, ask for it to be corrected, and it is corrected. If you find another flaw, write again. Imagine what an official looks like who is responsible for the shortcomings that you repeatedly point out. Maybe he'll even feel bad when he sees your next letter, and maybe he'll be more responsible in fulfilling his duties in the future so as not to receive letters from you.

The result will not always be immediate. But it is worth continuing, and the result will be, because in addition to contacting the contact centers, you can also appeal to the deputy or contest the answer. When everyone does something, the result is visible over time, and if we all put our hopes on others, then the result will have to wait for a long time. In addition, now is simply such a time that officials need to be educated.

In my opinion, it would not be a problem for city residents to constantly call 102 at the smallest violation they see - from illegal trade to parking on green spaces. If the patrol does not appear within 10 minutes (or you called, went on errands, turn back, call again and ask: "Why haven't they arrived yet?"), you can complain or at least find out why they took so long. It is necessary to bring the official\policeman to such a state that when he sees your surname, he immediately understands that it is easier for him to deal with the violation that you point out, than to compete with you in the epistolary genre or the art of oratory.

As a result, officials will either realize that the work is not for them, or they will adopt a new style of work. How was it before? Officials were associated with power and its defenders, with unnecessary troubles, bribes or other negative emotions, which people tried to avoid as much as possible. Let's take the militia, in fact, the militia should be associated with help, with salvation, people should not hesitate to call the militia in case of a violation of the law or a threat to life; policemen, in turn, should feel like supermen who rush to help those who need it, and be on the guard of the law and on the side of ordinary taxpayers.

What would be your advice to beginners?

First of all, when writing a request, it is worth putting the controlling authority in the copy. For example, if you write a complaint about cold batteries in winter at a university in the name of the rector of the university, put it in the copy of the Ministry of Education, or write a request for information to the Ministry of Economy, put it in the copy of the Cabinet of Ministers. Both need to know they are in the copy, so the higher authority will make sure the lower authority responds to you. Well, or to be afraid. At one time, almost all requests that were important to me were addressed to the Presidential Administration. So that the officials, after receiving a forwarding address from the Presidential Administration, think "no way". But, in general, it is worth resorting to if you need to get an answer quickly. If there is time and inspiration, then it is worth going from the lowest level and up, to the Presidential Administration, if you have not received a satisfactory answer.

Secondly, if possible, it is worth taking a photo of the violation and asking the performer for a photo report. I have a ZHEK with a camera watering trees and bushes, for example.

Third, look for both disruptions and positives. That is, it is necessary not only to complain about officials, but also to express gratitude, if they deserve it.
For example, I witnessed how the light went out at the station in Hrebinka. The queue ran around the station to the waiting room and announced the departure and arrival of diesel trains. In principle, she could not have done it and I doubt that anyone would have complained about her. So, I sent an appeal with a request to write their thanks. They wrote back to me that she will have a prize.

And, most importantly, I advise everyone to find like-minded people, involve friends, family, and neighbors in the cause. All together we can improve the situation faster. In addition, together with like-minded people, it will be possible to proceed to the implementation of various new initiatives. After all, there is always a lot of work if you look for it.

For example, one of the American initiatives I read about involves complaints against drivers who throw garbage from their cars on the road and on the side of the road. If you see someone who has thrown away an empty bottle or something, you can report it through the Department of Transportation website. There you need to indicate the date, time, town on which road the offense took place, license plates of the offender's vehicle and the content of the offense, for example: "threw a cigarette butt out of the car window." That's how simple it is. It would be useful to do something similar in Ukraine. And someday they will, I'm sure.

Thank you, Alexander!

Elena Aleksandrova, NEWSSKY, spoke