Togzhan Kozhaly (Togzhan Kozhaly) — politician, public figure, founder of the charity fund "HAQ" in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Next Sunday, March 19, elections to the Majilis (the lower house of the parliament) will be held in Kazakhstan. In an interview EliteExpert Togzhan Kozhaly spoke about today's problems of the country and the city of Almaty, on which she is running for deputy, and about her vision of necessary changes in the economy, the fight against Russian influence, and the human rights situation in her country.
In 1994, Togzhan Kozhaly graduated from the Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi. In 2005, she received a master's degree in "International Business" at the Academy of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, receiving an MBA degree.
She started working in 1994 as a teacher at the Kazakh National Women's Pedagogical University. In the period from 1996 to 1999, she managed the youth wing of the Liberal Movement of Kazakhstan.
In 1999, Togzhan became an expert at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow. In 2003 - 2010, she held the management positions of deputy director of sales, managing director and deputy chairman of the board in the large international company "Allianz SE".
In 2009-2013, she was an adviser to the chairman of the board of JSC "Kazakhinstrakh".
From 2010 to 2017, she was the executive director of the Oil Workers' Union. The project "Social responsibility in the oil and gas industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan" was implemented under her leadership.
She initiated the allocation of grants at the expense of subsoil-using companies to thousands of Kazakh students. She became one of the authors of the draft law on increasing the share of domestic companies in the oil and gas sector, which made it possible to create thousands of new jobs for citizens of Kazakhstan.
In 2019, Togzhan Kozhaly started the charitable foundation "HAQ" ("Honest service to the people"), which provided large-scale charitable assistance to the population during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since 2022, the foundation has been helping civilians who have become victims of the war in Ukraine, and has also provided humanitarian aid to residents of Kostanay and Ekibastuz who suffered as a result of emergency situations.
In addition, Togzhan Kozhaly is a member of the public council under the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
— The accident in Ekibastuz, where more than a hundred thousand people were left without heating due to an accident at the CHP in the height of frost, revealed a large-scale problem throughout the country. We know that your foundation "HAQ" provided large-scale assistance to the victims, and you were maximally involved in the situation. What do you think is the cause of such accidents?
- One of the reasons is the wear and tear of networks, and the fact that practically no new CHPs were built during the independence period, and modernization of old ones was not carried out anywhere. As the sixty-year old boilers stood, so they stand. At the same time, if you know, Ekibastuz is among the top 5 cryptocurrency mining centers in the world. Therefore, the consumption of electricity increased many times, and led to overloads, to an accident, to the fact that the boilers stopped.
But the main reason for what happened is the people who manage such facilities and their desire to line their pockets, rather than thinking about the welfare of the people.
— Probably, a similar connection is the dilapidation of the communal infrastructure, multiplied by the corruption of the leadership, which is characteristic of all CIS countries. But how do we break out of this vicious circle? Perhaps new laws are needed at the level of the Mazhilis or control over compliance with existing legislation?
— Unfortunately, the economy of Kazakhstan until January 2022 was built for the benefit of one family, as a result of which it was not intended for the needs of ordinary people. Therefore, it was much more profitable for the oligarchs not to invest in modernization, but simply to steal what was left. You can look at any industry - from gold mining to oil - old technologies that are harmful to the environment and human health are used everywhere. For example, among those working in the field of gold mining, there is a sharp increase in cancer, because the process is carried out in the "old" way, in an open way. And so in any field - everywhere you look, there is a black hole, and you are simply horrified by the greed of those in power, by the fact that no one thought about the people, by the fact that no one had the slightest desire to invest in advanced modern technologies.
- How to change the situation?
— We have to build the economy, focusing on people. There must be responsibility. After all, our main problem is that the economy was built "according to concepts", and no one paid attention to the laws.
It is also very important to review contracts for large contracts — it is simply necessary to force large owners to comply with environmental safety measures, increase social guarantees for employees and oblige them to modernize their production facilities. It is necessary to set clear conditions for them - if you are going to get rich here, then you are obliged to follow the rules. This is happening all over the world. Any Western investor is set a bar in terms of social obligations, wages and modernization, below which he cannot fall. In our country, everything was decided by bribes and kickbacks.
According to open data, the "owners" of Kazakhstan's economy are 162 people, who are the richest people in the country. At the same time, 70% of the general population lives in poverty, another 30% of residents have a better situation, but they only have enough money for food and clothing, and only about 1% are representatives of the middle class. Whereas for the development of society, it is necessary that the middle class is at least 10-20%. Unfortunately, we have become a country of lost opportunities.
— Is there not enough money in such a large and resource-rich state? It is impossible to believe.
- It is necessary to simply get rid of the chosen ones. They were there before, they are there now, and there are no general rules for them. Therefore, our main task is to build a country of equal powers, where everyone should be equal before the law. And the oligarchy must understand that the time of arbitrariness and solving issues "according to concepts" is over forever. If you don't meet the conditions, wait for criminal prosecution according to the law. Everything is clear and clear.
In addition, there is a great demand for security in the Kazakh society. Moreover, it is not only about public safety on the streets, but also about the safety of doing business or political activity. That is, if you are involved in politics, you can do it safely, without fear that your car will be burned or your family will be threatened, as it happens. And then it will be comfortable to live in Kazakhstan. Because, unfortunately, it is not comfortable to live in our country now.
I will now raise another very painful topic - as it turned out, our country produces almost nothing. Our foundation faced this in 2022, when we started helping the war-affected population of Ukraine. We received a request from the Ukrainian side regarding the purchase of special equipment for removing debris, contacted the ministries and found out that it is not of Kazakh production, as well as a huge number of other necessary items. We began to work more closely with the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and found out that the gas masks and even our army dry solders are also made in Russia. That is, come what may, we will not even be able to feed our soldiers, because dry rations are not produced in our country. Even the "Colgate" toothpaste, which Ukrainians requested for hygiene kits, is manufactured in Russia, not here.
— But Kazakhstan has always been famous for its powerful domestic production. It turns out, it is essentially destroyed?
— The fact is that it is more profitable for our oligarchy to dig up all the raw materials, and by the old barbaric methods and sell them, rather than investing in its own production. In principle, we are repeating the history of many resource-rich countries where national interests did not prevail.
In connection with this, we did not have a chemical industry and do not have one, there is also no coal processing industry, and the entire uranium industry belongs to Russia. We were surprised to learn that Kazakhstan is a very dependent, almost colonial country. I will explain why. In many cases, we will not be able to manage our own resources and create production even if we wanted to. Practically all tenders in various fields are won by Russian companies. It happens like this - for example, in Kazakhstan they plan to launch some large production, a tender is announced. It is won by a company from Russia, and then freezes the process so as not to create competitors, first of all, in the huge Chinese market. And next to us is the same huge Indian market, where Kazakhstan could also compete with the Russians. It is clear that this is unprofitable and Russia freezes our projects, does not allow them to develop.
And there are a lot of such objects stuck around the country. These are pipe rolling and metal rolling mills, and projects of new hydroelectric power plants. Now there are attempts by the Russians to get into our nuclear power industry, and I am very afraid that Russia will build a nuclear power plant in our country...
— That is, we faced clear and tough pressure. Do we have the strength to get rid of it?
- We have to become very toothy. Each deputy of the Majilis must be a mini-Genghis Khan and fiercely defend Kazakhstan's national interests, and any member of the government must take a clear statesman's position.
— We are recording this interview after a whole series of devastating earthquakes in Turkey, which have been going on for the third week. Since Kazakhstan is in a seismically dangerous zone, people are worried about this situation - especially here in Almaty.
— I don't want to scare anyone, but just a few days ago, the President had a meeting with the mayor of Almaty Dusayev, where terrible figures were announced: up to 70% of the buildings in the city could be destroyed in a strong earthquake.
Almaty stands on 27 faults in the earth's crust, so it is necessary to conduct an audit of all buildings for earthquake resistance. Another problem is that almost half of our city is built by Turkish companies. Their buildings were considered very safe in terms of safety, but the earthquake in Turkey showed that this was not the case at all.
In addition to the audit, it is necessary to inform people about what to do in such cases. After all, as the events of January showed, at the time of the emergency situation, people were completely unprepared: no one knew where to run, who to call, what to do.
Of course, we will not rebuild houses, but people should know their risks — after all, we are talking about human lives. It is possible that real estate prices will fall in some areas that are most seismically dangerous. But it is much better than people simply dying under the rubble, as in Turkey.
Separately, point building should be prohibited. Previously, we used to build houses with large courtyards - precisely so that in the event of earthquakes, the houses would not stack like dominoes on top of each other, and people would not die in such numbers. Now all this is forgotten, and new houses are built without yards, close to each other, and this can be very dangerous.
— The situation with ecology in many regions of the country, including Almaty, also worries people. There are clearly not enough trees on the streets, and the air is very polluted.
— Yes, there are indeed many environmental problems in Almaty. Our parks are being cut down for development, our arikas are being drained, and many streets are planted with thuja and Christmas trees, which are not the kind of trees that clean the air at all. After all, Almaty is located in a pit, over which smog always hangs: in some areas, the level of air pollution is three or four times higher than the permissible level! People practically live in a gas chamber.
To correct this situation, it is necessary to switch the CHP from coal to gas. There will be enough work in this direction for years. But for this it is necessary to make ecology a priority area of the country. And now we have the Ministry of Ecology, on the contrary, it covers all companies that emit and pollute the land and air.
— In March, our country, as always, celebrates International Women's Day. Therefore, one cannot but ask - in your opinion, to what extent can a woman in Kazakhstan realize herself in public life and politics?
— To be honest, gender policy in Kazakhstan is not even on the second or third level. Yes, 30% of the seats in the parliament are reserved for women, but all this is just for the sake of a tick, they say, look, we are no worse than in Europe.
In fact, women's rights are violated everywhere, even in families. Try to contact the police with a complaint that your husband is beating you. The men who work there will not even listen, but will send them back with the words: "Woman, this is your family, go back to your husband and don't complain." In addition, family abuse is so widespread in our society that women, especially from rural areas, from remote areas, do not even understand that it is wrong, they believe that violence is the norm. Because there is no legal education for women at the state level, and this should be taught from adolescence.
Therefore, it is necessary to raise before society the issue not only of women being more present in politics, but at least to begin with, to teach people that it is simply impossible to insult and even more so raise a hand against women. And a woman herself must understand that she is no worse than a man, even if he is stronger.
Olena Ovchinnikova spoke
