color-coded

how are things in your oblast?

asked how to make ukraine’s elected officials accountable to their constituents, presidential hopeful arseniy yatseniuk recalled a recent conversation he had during a visit to one of ukraine’s regional centers.

“how are things in your oblast?” yatseniuk asked.

“they stink,” the man replied.

“how is your mayor?”

“he is not nice.”

“how is the regional council?”

“the same. no one picks up the garbage. there is no running water. zhek [the communal services office] doesn’t work and the city’s trolley buses don’t run.”

“who did you vote for last election?”

“ivan ivanovich.”

“who will you vote for in the next election?”

“ivan ivanovich.”

the moral of the story, yatseniuk implied, is that the level of political accountability corresponds to level of public apathy. in other words, politicians are as responsible (or irresponsible) as the people who elect them.

yatseniuk related the anecdote on sept. 7 to a packed town hall meeting at budynok offitseriv (house of officers) on hrushevskoho street in kyiv. several hundred people were in the crowd.

the 35-year old former parliament speaker, former foreign minister and former acting head of ukraine’s national bank used the venue like a veteran evangelical preacher for two hours to hammer home his vision of change.

“i thank you all for believing in me. i want you to know that i believe in you. this is the only way we can change this country. but we all have to first start by believing in ourselves,” yatseniuk said in his introductory remarks.

after announcing the completion of the first phase of his pre-presidential election campaign – the creation of the all-ukraine front for change non-governmental organization (with 600 offices throughout ukraine, including 10 in kyiv) - yatseniuk delivered a 35-minute stump speech. his talk covered the four key themes advertised by his color-coded pre-election campaign billboard campaign: re-industrialization, re-cultivation, re-education and re-equipping the military.

re-industrialization (orange)

yatseniuk said his first task as ukraine’s new president would be to put people to work.

“the era of ukraine as a post-industrial nation which earns money without producing anything is over. it ended with the start of the world economic crisis last year,” he said. “if ukraine does not build new factories which can produce goods which are competitive on world markets, we do not have a future.”

yatseniuk remarked that ukraine has completed only three large-scale construction projects over the past 18 years: the construction of two atomic power plants in rivne and khmelnytsky oblasts and a highway from kyiv to odesa.

“i know, because we paid for the projects when i was acting head of the national bank of ukraine,” he said.

re-cultivation (green)

ukraine needs to develop large-scale industrial farming to meet its domestic food needs. yatseniuk said only 60 percent of what ukrainians consume is produced in ukraine. he said large-scale agricultural projects would help restore the vitality of the rural population and improve the country’s demographics.

re-education (blue)

ukraine needs healthy and educated citizens, said yatseniuk, who cited united nations predictions that the country’s population would decrease by 10 million people by the year 2050.

“we are getting old and dying out. we need a country where people want and are able to work, where the government supports individuals who think well and are making sound decisions.”

re-equipping the military (red)

the country’s armed forces should at least be capable of defending the country’s territorial integrity, according to yatseniuk, who said efficient reform of the military-industrial sector could lead to increased sales on the global arms market and contribute to economic growth.

yatseniuk said additional priority matters are the formulation of a comprehensive national policy on the use of ukrainian territory as a transportation corridor for commodities exchanged between europe and the russian federation and creation of a free trade zone with the european union.