People must be listened to, engaged with, and their concerns raised with the authorities must be properly addressed. This was the directive given to officials by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, on September 10 at a meeting on current domestic policy issues and preparations for political campaigns, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
"Autumn is the time to sum up results and build a strategy for the coming year. Therefore, our most important task is to finish this year with dignity and start the next one well. The results of the presidential elections will largely depend on this," the Head of State said. "The priority is working with people. This applies to the activities of all leaders – both in the regions, the local vertical, and middle management."
The President paid special attention to the approaches in working with the population that officials should adhere to: "People must be listened to, engaged with, and their concerns raised with us must be properly addressed." First and foremost, Alexander Lukashenko asked the meeting participants what issues are currently the most pressing and what the effectiveness of addressing such appeals is. "The authority of each leader, local leaders, and the government as a whole depends precisely on this," the Head of State warned.
The President noted that for understandable reasons, everyday life concerns are usually at the forefront for any person. "Someone wants to fix their roof, someone wants to build a fence, someone is lacking something in the shop, and so on. Everything must be studied, sorted (this must always be done), and it must be understood what we, the authorities, must organise, and what people must do themselves," Alexander Lukashenko emphasised. In this regard, the Head of State directed attention towards systematic, efficiently organised work at all levels of government. "For example, people often judge prices not by statistics, but by their own wallet, the quality of education – by their interaction with a specific teacher, the level of healthcare – by their local clinic, and the state of the government – by the actions of an individual civil servant they approach. I am hinting that everyone must work together in this chain," the President stressed.