The Ministry of Justice accused some mass media of showing administrative changes in Uzbekistan, in particular, the combination of ministries and the termination of some state organizations, only in a negative light.

“Of course, it’s good that opinions are different, but some media and social networks are organizing interviews with people who are not experts on the issue or who claim to be experts, even though they don’t have the necessary knowledge and experience. They are engaged in showing and evaluating the reforms unilaterally only from a negative point of view to their observers. In particular, these days, Kun.uz and Qalampir.uz published a series of interviews,” the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

In recent weeks, Kun.uz published interviews with economist Abdulla Abdukadirov, law activist Abdurakhmon Tashanov and education expert Bakhodir Ganiyev, and Qalampir.uz with political scientist Hamid Sodiq on the topic of administrative reform. In these conversations, experts expressed their opinions not only about the positive aspects of the administrative changes taking place, but also about their shortcomings.

The Ministry of Justice called the interviewees of the media “persons who declare themselves to be experts” and accused them of irresponsibility.

“First of all, it should be noted that it is desirable to have the necessary knowledge, skills and experience, and to base on a deep analysis in giving this or that opinion, assessment in such a matter. Because it is the performance of irresponsibility to express such a professional issue as administrative reform through light-hearted approaches, one’s own feelings and views, especially through the mass media,” the official statement of the state body reads.

According to the ministry, “experienced experts of international organizations and international financial institutions, including representatives of the UN” participated in the development of administrative reforms. Apart from the UN, participation of other international organizations and experts, their accepted and rejected proposals have not been disclosed.

The Ministry of Justice and other initiators may have really consulted with international experts on administrative reform, but they were not interested in the opinion of the voters – the citizens of Uzbekistan. Projects in this regard were not submitted to public discussion. Last year, the Ministry of Justice was one of those who opposed the abolition of the rule that all normative legal documents must be subject to public discussion. Kun.uz wrote that there are factors that refute the ministry’s official explanation in this regard.

The above statement of the Justice Ministry caused criticism on the Internet. In particular, public activist Komil Jalilov listed such things as “creating ministries, swapping ministers, “placement” of various committees and agencies into ministries, allegedly swelling the Administration with new appointments at the expense of a compact government”, questioned how correct it would be to call them “administrative reforms”.

Jalilov reminded that Article 12 of the Constitution guarantees diversity of opinions, and Article 67 guarantees freedom of the mass media.

“The mass media are not only obliged to praise the reforms – their task is to discuss different opinions and views in the society. It is natural to have different views on any reality, including negative ones. If the Ministry of Justice needs only praise, “Uzbekistan 24” (and other channels of MTRK), which is allocated money from the budget and is not seriously taken by anyone, is enough. Let’s leave the independent mass media, which are an alternative source of information, alone,” he wrote.

Komil Jalilov says that the ministry classed those who gave interviews to the media as “non-experts”:

“Any person living in Uzbekistan has the right to react to the events taking place in this society. For example, if I’m not satisfied with the state of public transport, do I have to be a transport expert to say so? In addition, in the interviews I saw, experts on political processes expressed their opinion about the process presented by Kun.uz journalists as “administrative reform”. In general, it is the task of the mass media to bring out different opinions. The task of the Justice Ministry is to “help ensure the rule of law”, not to establish censorship prohibited by law.

One of the Kun.uz interlocutors on this topic, Bakhodir Ganiyev, an expert on education, also reacted to the critical statement of the Justice Ministry.

“First of all, every citizen has the right to react to the processes taking place in the state, according to our Constitution. It seems that the specialists of the Justice Ministry should re-read the Constitution. Wasn’t their main task to ensure the rule of law?

Second, there are no normative rules for experts to be specialists. In our country, non-specialists are sitting as ministers, but the Ministry of Justice is keeping silent. A non-specialist can be an ordinary expert, can’t he?” he asked.

In response to the state body’s labeling of “persons who declare themselves as experts”, Bakhodir Ganiyev noted that he has a bachelor’s degree in engineering and economics and a master’s degree in project management, he completed a 1-year special program in public administration at Yale University, he was a deputy of the Oliy Majlis, he participated in the development and implementation of many state programs in the local administration, “El-Yurt” Foundation, “Kamolot” Youth Social Movement and the Presidential Administration.

In addition to the above accusation, the Justice Ministry’s statement lists the main features of the administrative changes that have begun.