The President of Kyrgyzstan called for transition to an electronic Parliament. Sadyr Japarov made this statement today at a meeting of the Zhogorku Kenesh.
«If we don’t transition to an electronic Parliament, we will continue to spend enormous amounts of money on paper and equipment. Since 2020, 65 tons of A4 paper alone have been used. And we import this paper from abroad. We need to move away from this dependence.
Esteemed deputies, let’s switch the Zhogorku Kenesh to tablets and laptops, let’s create an electronic Parliament! Forget about paper and pens—it is the requirement of time. Developed countries transitioned to this 30 years ago. If you don’t know how, learn, use assistants. Even a bear has been taught to ride a bicycle, and we, after all, are humans—we’ll learn quickly. If we switch to tablets, one person will be able to instantly distribute all materials (bills, etc.). Furthermore, computers can store archives for 15-20 years.
Sometimes ministers ask me, «Boss, how do you remember things that happened five or six years ago?» I answer, «I’m human too, not a computer or a robot. I forget things too. But this helps me remember.» You open a file saved five years ago and remember everything. Nowadays, many people use notebooks. They fill a notebook, then throw it away—and everything is forgotten. But all the material that takes up 100 tons of paper can be stored in a single device,» he said.
The saddest thing, the head of the Kyrgyz Republic noted, is when just one word is changed in a bill, all the documents are reprinted, and distributed to deputies again.
«These are huge losses. I myself was a deputy twice and I know this. Sometimes they brought tens of kilograms of paper that the deputies never even opened. But you can open a tablet in the car, at home, during meals—it’s much more convenient.
Besides paper, huge amounts of money are spent on office equipment: printers, ink, electricity, secretaries’ salaries. This amounts to billions of soms. For example, three years ago, we transitioned the government to an electronic format and saved billions. I suggest you do the same, and the savings can be donated to your deputy fund,» he added.
Sadyr Japarov noted another advantage of electronic document management: approvals are processed in a single day.
«Papers used to take months to circulate. Now, a document is uploaded into the system in the morning, and by the evening, there are already responses: ’agree’ or ’disagree’. When I first came to power and was reviewing the archives, I found a government resolution that hadn’t been adopted for three years simply because the documents were circulating from office to office. And that was a decision of great importance to the state. Now, such decisions are made in an hour. Only top-secret documents remain on paper.
Three years ago, we transferred your salaries to e-wallets. Back then, some deputies were against it, saying they wanted to receive them in cash. But we did it anyway. Therefore, I ask you to transition to an e-Parliament as soon as possible,» he concluded.
