Ukrainian politicians have not managed to avoid the influence of Western standards; there are plenty of their own hippies in their midst, but there are also yuppies among them, who cynically and ambitiously climb to the top of the social pyramid.
Today we have many young and ambitious ministers and people's deputies, but there are also political yuppies at the regional level. For example, Volyn governor Volodymyr Bondar. His biography looks simply flawless, everything in it is smooth and correct. But it is precisely this fact that puts on guard those people who believe that human nature is never alien to anyone.
From party to power
The 36-year-old head of the Volyn Regional State Administration, Volodymyr Bondar, is one of the youngest governors (only his Chernihiv colleague Vladyslav Atroshenko is a month younger than him). It is hard to say what exactly Volodymyr Nalkovych was guided by in building his political career, but it looks simply flawless from the point of view of the correctness of political steps and the prudence of his moves. Bondar's current status proves the effectiveness of the principle: one must suffer a little in order to later rise to a higher hierarchical level in society.
Bondar comes from a simple family, a native of Lutsk. He started with active work in public youth organizations, which helped him get specialized positions in the region's state structures, reaching the rank of deputy head of the internal policy department of the Volyn Regional State Administration under Governor Borys Klymchuk (now Ukraine's ambassador to Lithuania). But even then Volodymyr Nalkovych's political intuition did not fail him. He left his state post straight into the opposition, becoming an active participant in "Ukraine without Kuchma." In parallel, Bondar went through party school: starting with the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, he responded to the call of the leader of the "Reforms and Order" party, Viktor Pynzenyk, to create a regional organization, which he himself headed. This bore fruit in 2002 in the form of a parliamentary mandate in the Verkhovna Rada, although the young "PRP member" had to fight in the district against very eminent competitors — the "fat cats." Since the PRP also joined the "Our Ukraine" bloc, it is logical that during the parliamentary campaign Volodymyr Bondar was beyond competition when appointed head of the Volyn regional headquarters of Viktor Yushchenko, and during the presidential elections as well. It would seem that after the victory, no other candidates besides Bondar for the post of Volyn governor simply could be considered. However, the struggle between political allies for the post of head of the Volyn Regional State Administration was no less fierce than for the Dnipropetrovsk region, and continued right up until the night before the official announcement of the lucky holder of this chair. But the scales were most likely tipped in Bondar's favor by the determination and authority of his party boss — Viktor Pynzenyk. However, having become the "sovereign's" or rather the presidential eye in the region, Volodymyr Nalkovych deemed it necessary to change party affiliation, leaving the ranks of the PRP for the "People's Union Our Ukraine." But he did not head the regional organization of the NSNU, as many of his fellow governors did, but entrusted this to his deputy. Bondar himself simply joined the party Council, whose composition is unofficially considered a list for future parliamentary elections. At the same time, Volodymyr Bondar maintained excellent relations with his yesterday's fellow party members, thereby expanding his circle of political opportunities. All the more so since he firmly intends to take an active part in the 2006 parliamentary elections. So, in building his political career so far, Volodymyr Bondar has made the right bets, although there were plenty of strong competitors along the way. Will his intuition not fail him in the upcoming campaign? Time will tell…
About business and prosecutors
Volodymyr Bondar's family situation looks no less flawless. He has known his wife since their school days. The family lives in a three-room apartment in Lutsk. Bondar has been a father for 13 years now. His daughter has not yet decided what she wants to become, but her dad already sees her future as a lawyer. True, if the girl has her father's character, his dreams may not come true, because at one time Volodymyr Nalkovych flatly refused to enter the biology faculty "through connections," as his father wanted. Being persistent in his desire to do everything his own way, Bondar on his own efforts applied for eight years in a row to the history faculty, which he eventually graduated from at Volyn University, receiving a diploma as a history teacher.
Having bet on politics, Volodymyr Bondar also gave up his small business. And although his wife today owns shares in several enterprises, this business probably exists in order to support the family's financial situation. As political scientist Kost Bondarenko writes, Mr. Bondar has no big or significant business, although for some time in Lutsk people talked about Volodymyr Nalkovych's close contacts either with Ihor Yeremeyev (the "Continuum" group) or with Mykola Martynenko ("Interport-Kovel"). Probably, appointed to the post of governor of the Volyn region, Volodymyr Bondar will be called upon to balance the appetites of these "Volyn giants," believes the political scientist.
Or maybe also to reduce appetites, as the governor did with political parties. Implementing his personnel policy, he flatly refused the quota principle of distributing posts and appointed professionals at his own discretion. However, a compromise was found; the anger of the regional organizations of the UNP, "Batkivshchyna" and the NPU is already behind. Bondar did not so much convince his political allies of his rightness as remain firm and unwavering in his own personnel positions. Today his team includes both officials with a party card in their pocket and non-partisans, but loyal to the governor. But there are more of the latter, and among them there are people from those who have already "been," yet Volodymyr Nalkovych needs their professionalism and quality work. Moreover, as he himself assures, even the current country's leadership once worked in "someone's" team, so this point does not bother Bondar at all.
Volodymyr Nalkovych even managed to show his character in the struggle with Volyn prosecutor Andriy Hil, who occupied very good positions in the hierarchy of local power. And on the scale of the Prosecutor General's Office, he was known as a man of Prosecutor General Sviatoslav Piskun: at one time they were connected not only by studying at Lviv University, but also by living in the same dormitory. However, Volodymyr Bondar did not hesitate during the President's first meeting with governors to accuse Hil of "unlawful actions directed against the state, its land and water resources," citing specific facts. As already written in the press, Viktor Andriyovych allegedly immediately instructed the Prosecutor General present at the meeting to sort out this situation within five days. The governor himself claimed that the President ordered the dismissal of the prosecutor and his deputies. Andriy Hil was indeed dismissed from the post of Volyn regional prosecutor and appointed prosecutor of Zhytomyr region.
The governor was no less stubborn in changing the leadership of the Volyn Internal Affairs Ministry. Immediately at a collegium of the Interior Ministry, the President demanded the resignation of the head of the Volyn police, Mykhailo Lebed, who, according to Viktor Yushchenko, had "colluded with the regional prosecutor like two bulls." It was about the well-known "Volyn Klondike" (smuggling of cars from the West through the Volyn customs and their registration at the local traffic police). Mykhailo Lebed refuted his involvement in this, but left the post.
So, in Volyn there now works both a new prosecutor, Mykola Frantovsky, and a new head of the Internal Affairs Ministry, Viktor Shvydky. Both worked in Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and, according to one version, are considered protégés of the current prosecutor of Donetsk region (formerly Volyn prosecutor) Oleksiy Bahanyets. Moreover, Frantovsky was his student. So, Volodymyr Bondar managed not only to form his team, but also to change the region's leadership. Now there is silence and calm in relations of local authorities. And the governor's opponents have also quieted down somewhat, seeing what support Bondar has at the level of the country's leadership. There is only the question of who gave Volodymyr Nalkovych this "green light"?..
An official from the Maidan
The revolution ended long ago, but Volodymyr Bondar drives to Kyiv Maidan every day. Because it is on this square in Lutsk that his current workplace is now located — the Volyn Regional Administration. Here also rises the monument to Ukrainian statehood with the carved words of the anthem and the Declaration of Independence. And opposite the Regional State Administration stands another state agency — the local tax office, which back under Kuchma took this building for itself, though it was originally supposed to belong to the music school. But for the authorities, taxes have always been more important than art, so young musicians will have to squeeze into cramped premises for a long time to come...
The governor appeared at 7:45, quickly got out of the car and literally flew up the steps to the central entrance so that his bodyguard barely kept up with the object of protection. By the way, Bondar drives a representative-class official car, a "Volkswagen Touareg," which he received during the distribution of the ill-fated expensive cars that were on the Interior Ministry's balance sheet. Volodymyr Bondar must have been very happy about the silver SUV worth 55 thousand dollars, because no decent car remained in the Regional State Administration's fleet after his predecessor Anatoliy Frantsuz smashed the official "Toyota Land Cruiser" to pieces. So, at first Volodymyr Bondar drove his own deputy's "Mercedes-500," which was very symbolic: his first 100 days (until May) as head of the Regional State Administration he sat on two chairs — the governor's and the deputy's. However, Volodymyr Nalkovych was one of the few of his fellow dual-office holders whose deputy mandate was stripped by a court. On the scale of the country this went unnoticed, but for the Lutsk taxi driver who was giving me a ride, this circumstance destroyed the authority of Bondar, whom he had respected since the presidential campaign.
Probably, thanks to the determination of his actions and the speed of his decisions, Volodymyr Bondar managed to achieve a lot in life. Within five minutes he managed to receive me in his office (which remained uncosy, despite the fact that before his arrival the governor had it consecrated), and the head of the district state administration, who presented a korovai on the occasion of the completion of the grain harvest, give several orders and go out to the car for the next trip.
We drove toward the Belarusian border to the Lyubeshiv district, the most remote from the regional center, for a conference of education workers held on the eve of the new school year. On the way we talked about schools and solved problems, for example, where to find 5 million hryvnias for building a new school in one of the districts, given that the regional budget for this year has only 1.5 million hryvnias planned for construction? The solution was not from the field of mathematics: primary school children were temporarily placed in a kindergarten, and older students would be bused to a neighboring school. But what outrages the governor is something else: the parents were silent for 13 years, and when he took on solving this problem, they blocked the road with a picket. Bondar decided once and for all not to indulge such antics, publicly stating that he knows about the problems and will solve them to the extent possible. He will not react to pickets, in order to stop such practices and preserve stability in the region. Volodymyr Bondar says at the same time that people have too great expectations: problems that accumulated over many years, they want to solve all at once, but one should be patient. It's just that "patience has run out"...
On the way we stopped at the Sedlyshche secondary school, built back in 1965, which does not even have a gym, but the director is a nice woman who made the classrooms cosy to the extent of her modest means. A corner with state and Volyn symbols, the "Prayer of a Ukrainian Child," an embroidered cross-stitch portrait of Taras Shevchenko, where the Kobzar is smiling... The teachers decided to break the stereotype of the gloomy poet in a grey hat, and now the children see in him only a kind grandfather... Walking on the creaking wooden floor, observing the modest decor, it was even awkward to ask about the availability of a computer. There was none in the Lyubeshiv school either, although it already had a gym and an assembly hall. The governor thanked the teachers and gave the head of the district state administration present an instruction to take patronage and computerize the schools... What did our prime minister promise? To direct the proceeds from the sale of "Kryvorizhstal" to the field of education?.. It will be interesting to see whether they reach Lyubeshiv?
They say that few governors came to Lyubeshiv, so the teachers gathered at the conference looked at Volodymyr Bondar with more curiosity than listened to him. The governor himself considers the teachers' audience one of the most difficult, because these people "themselves teach and always know more than everyone else." And he explains the fact of this warm reception only by fear of not being punished for their faults during the presidential elections. But I tell you, his speech had to be seen. It's a pity that, being a people's deputy in the Verkhovna Rada (according to the parliamentary website), Volodymyr Nalkovych never once spoke. The gestures and rhetoric of the Volyn governor resembled Viktor Yushchenko. Raising his hands in Yushchenko's manner, he often repeated "dear friends," and at the beginning made a bow, saying, they wrote me a speech here, but I sincerely want to address you without a piece of paper. And, as our President likes to do, he spoke in a fatherly way about the importance of the teacher's role and raising the level of teaching ethics and morality in school. As a true representative of the presidential party, he did not forget to say that the new government has already fulfilled what it promised: increased payments to young mothers at childbirth, fully paid off with the miners, raised salaries for public sector workers. But what is telling: the government, according to Bondar, is first of all the President, and then — the collective image of the Cabinet. By the way, to the question of why his gestures are so similar to the presidential ones, Volodymyr Nalkovych answers that he did not specifically study this and does it spontaneously. As for the prime minister, the governor sincerely believes that Yulia Tymoshenko sleeps in her office on a folding bed when she stays working late. And the point is not even that the governor is used to believing every word of Yulia Volodymyrivna, but that sometimes even at midnight she works in telephone mode with the heads of regional state administrations, as my interlocutor assures.
At 13:00 Volodymyr Bondar was already at the regional state administration discussing with the leaders of youth organizations of the region the National Doctrine of Youth Policy. For a good two hours the youth made proposals, starting from gender and Christian components, ending with questions of educating a patriot from a young citizen, since patriotism was not mentioned at all in the document. The leaders complained that after the revolution the youth movement declined, and it needs to be raised, first of all, at the village and district level. There were also remarks: the participation of the youth itself in implementing the doctrine is not outlined, but one should not create yet another bureaucratic apparatus in the form of committees and commissions on this matter, but "let the youth develop without overseers." And after the loud "our governor himself was recently a representative of the youth movement, and therefore must support the movement in every way and go down in history as its inspirer," Volodymyr Nalkovych proposed to create one youth center where offices of all youth organizations would be located. He even found a building already. Stormy applause...
Then an Information Service Center was opened on the first floor of the regional state administration. In accordance with European standards, the governor launched this pilot project in the Volyn Regional State Administration, which provides for serving people in the form of questionnaires where the problem is indicated, then — who solves it and when to come for an answer, in order to abolish the practice of formal replies and fruitless walking "from door to door." What the results will be, it is too early to say, but the plus is already that there will be fewer people in the corridors of power, that's for sure.
And between these events Volodymyr Bondar managed to receive visitors. First of all those who brought good news from investors. This time it was the head of the Lutsk district state administration, who spoke about the intentions of the Chinese to build a plant with 400 jobs, but for this they need 5 hectares of land, and the problem is in the timeframe of land allocation. One has to wait at least half a year. Bondar had two remarks: in the letter of intent, clearly write that the workforce will be ours, not Chinese, and as for the timeframe of land allocation, the Cabinet of Ministers is currently dealing with it, and soon things will move faster. Here it also becomes clear why there is such a struggle for the Volyn region, which has always been agrarian and subsidized. The whole matter is in the territories close to the border, where it is profitable to locate one's plants in order to then sell products in Europe. I am not even mentioning that in Volyn, through the well-known Yahodyn customs, 70% of exported goods pass. So, the main goal of Volodymyr Bondar is to attract investors; there is simply no other way to develop the region. And the authority of local government will also grow, considering that one can always negotiate with the two Volyn customs offices, controlled first of all by the governor, about the passage of goods.
The governor usually works until 20:00, but that is officially; as Volodymyr Nalkovych himself asserts, in telephone mode he labors around the clock.
So, Governor Volodymyr Bondar is hard to call a good manager in the sense that he himself could not even develop his own business. However, he is ready to defend someone's production, if it benefits the region, resolutely and selflessly, showing all his zeal and persistence. So, first of all, he is a politician and diplomat who in Volyn represents the government in the role of "mediator" — between investors and land users, between business and customs, fulfilling state budget plans and creating new jobs. However, one feels that Bondar misses the parliament, or even more, the election campaign, because the party environment is more familiar and close to him, and he awaits the parliamentary elections with impatience.
"Glavred" asked the opinion of people's deputies from Volyn about the work of the new governor
People's Deputy (NPU) Ihor Yeremeyev:
"I consider the governor's greatest achievement to be that Volodymyr Nalkovych does everything for the unification and cooperation of all constructive forces of the region. As a people's deputy and citizen of Ukraine, I am impressed that he did not start his work by branding people as 'ours' and 'theirs.' I also like that in Volodymyr Bondar's work there is no principle of throwing caps. Bondar has enough courage to say that he is incompetent in some matter, and therefore is ready to consult with specialists and find the right solution. This is great wisdom for an official of such rank.
As for his mistakes, I have not analyzed this situation deeply. One of the mistakes may be that from time to time he can give in to emotions related to the revolution, in particular, resolving some issues through picketing. I believe this practice must be ended, and one must realize that Bondar is already in power, and he has other instruments of influence. One should not make it so that the revolution constantly continues on the territory of the region. A revolution has its beginning and its end; after that come everyday life and work on creating jobs and attracting investment.
It is pleasant, of course, that when the free economic zone in Novovolynsk was liquidated by a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers (which, I believe, was ill-considered and done hastily), Volodymyr Nalkovych delved into the situation and began to defend the investments of the Austrian company "Kromberg & Schubert," which intended to invest about 200 million euros for the construction of a large wood-processing complex. As a people's deputy, I have no relation to this organization, but I am grateful that Bondar had the courage to defend this project. And it is a great pity that the Cabinet of Ministers needed as many as eight months to understand that before cutting, one must measure seven times.
Evaluating the governor's work on a five-point scale, I would give him 3.8%. I did not give 4.5%, leaving 0.7% so that he would involve the business circles of the region more in his work. These people build enterprises, creating new jobs, improving the well-being of the region's residents. Then Bondar's work could be evaluated, of course, not at 5 points, since there is no perfection, but at 4.5% — quite possibly."
People's Deputy (NPU) Kateryna Vashchuk:
"I consider Volodymyr Bondar's appointment one of the best. He managed to find common ground with the majority of leaders and political forces of the region. One can say that so far the period of his establishment as head of the region is going successfully, because a few months is not enough for this. At least a year or two in the post is needed. True, at the first stage a number of personnel mistakes were made, but this is a chronic disease throughout Ukraine, caused by political moments and agreements that he observed as a leader, perhaps even against his own will. However, in Bondar's work there is more positive than mistakes. I would advise him to treat with greater care good specialists, people devoted to their work, who have worked for many years in state structures. They must be protected, because a good leader is raised over years, and knowledge of the matter cannot be replaced by anything.
In addition, Volodymyr Bondar has already shown initiative for closer communication with people's deputies from Volyn, and now we are jointly resolving the urgent issue of capital construction of several facilities in the region. I would like, of course, for everything to work out for him, because this is my native region, and we will help. I will not evaluate the governor's activity, let the people do that, but I like much in the style of his work."
People's Deputy ("Our Ukraine") Serhiy Slabenko:
"Among Volodymyr Bondar's achievements as head of the Volyn Regional State Administration, one should note the formation of a team from representatives of political parties that fought for Viktor Yushchenko's victory. This also includes his determination regarding personnel issues: the prosecutor of the Volyn region was replaced, the question of changing the heads of the Internal Affairs Ministry was raised, as well as those officials who compromised themselves under the former government.
The miscalculations include the fact that, unfortunately, the people's deputies from Volyn together with the regional state administration could not work in a coordinated manner to promote the allocation of financial funds for the region, so today the issues of building a school for children with hearing impairments in the territory of the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyi and the gasification of two districts — Lyuboml and Manevychi — remain unresolved.
It is difficult for me to determine an assessment of Volodymyr Nalkovych's work in this post, because this can only be done on the basis of economic indicators and calculations that can be achieved in the territory of Volyn. The number of problems facing the region is very large. For example, the latest events connected with the appeal of Volyn regional council deputies to the government to protect the region's agricultural producers from rising fuel prices and eliminate the disparity for delivered products (grain), indicate that the situation remains difficult. Therefore it is difficult to give an assessment and distinguish where the regional state administration bears responsibility and where the government does."