The Crusader

By Walter Kish

Aside from Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, one of the most popular and visible figures in last year’s Orange Revolution was Yuriy Lutsenko.  I remember his appearances on the stage on the Maidan.  Though not possessed of the kind of charisma that Tymoshenko used to such good effect, his distinctive voice radiated a certain aura of sincerity and integrity, and he quickly became a recognized and respected leader of the protest movement.  He was one of the best examples of a new, younger and, hopefully, more honest generation of Ukrainian politicians, who were expected to lead Ukraine out of its post-Soviet political swamp.

Lutsenko is indeed relatively young, being only 41 years of age.  He hails from Rivne, in Western Ukraine, and graduated as an electrical engineer from the Lviv Polytechnic Institute.  He became active in Rivne Oblast politics and graduated to the national scene in 1997 as a Deputy Minister of Science and Technology for Ukraine.  He joined the Socialist Party of Ukraine and, for a time, served as assistant to its leader Oleksandr Moroz.  In the 2002 election, he became a member of the Verkhovna Rada.

Subsequent to Yushchenko’s victory, he was appointed Minister of Internal affairs in Tymoshenko’s cabinet, responsible for all the numerous police bodies that had developed such a notorious reputation for graft and corruption.  He probably faced one of the more difficult reform tasks of any of the ministries and, after some eight months on the job, he has shown probably more progress than any other arm of the government.  It was undoubtedly as a result of this that Yushchenko kept him on in the new Yekhanurov cabinet.

In his report to Parliament last week, he painted a somewhat daunting picture of the level of corruption that his Ministry has uncovered.  In the first nine months of 2005, over 40,000 cases of economic theft had been discovered, 17, 000 of these involving government officials.  Seven-hundred-and-sixty-five prosecutions were begun on cases that involved more than 1,000,000 hryvni, and some 3,500 where the sum was greater than 100,000 hryvni.  The total of all thefts during the period amounted to some 18 billion hryvni.

The level of graft and corruption in the government is nothing short of astounding.  Cases have been opened against five previous heads of oblast parliaments, 18 heads of oblast administrations and 21 deputy heads.  In addition, 72 heads of regional administrations and some 60 city mayors have been likewise charged.  Some 2,200 people have been charged with corruption offences, and 3,700 with bribery or extortion. The average bribe amount was 8,500 hryvni or about $2,000 Cdn.

To those of us in the West, where even a single case of government corruption of any kind makes front-page headlines, the above statistics are hard to digest.  What it does point out is how deeply imbedded corruption has become in not only the civil service, but virtually every organized structure within Ukrainian society and its economy.  It obviously started in Soviet times, became deeply rooted in the system, and carried on seamlessly when Ukraine became independent.

Reforming this system remains a monumental task that most experts say will take at least a generation to implement.  Lutsenko has made a good start, and one only hopes that his dedication and level of integrity becomes an example to be emulated throughout all the other ministries.  He is one of the few “crusaders” from last year’s revolution that most Ukrainians still trust and believe in.  I wish him well.