Restrictive measures, introduced in Turkmenistan with the aim of combating the spread of COVID-19 and their random application, repeatedly mentioned by “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, are being used by police officers and government officials in order to coerce bribes.
One of the restrictions from which law enforcement officers profit is the ban on travel between regions.Only citizens under 50 years old are permitted to leave their region for a legitimate reason, for instance medical treatment, the funeral of a family member or a business trip.
Only air travel is permitted provided a passenger presents a negative COVID-19 certificate.
Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that 100 manats are charged for the test (it is three times cheaper if the medical insurance is available), but the public health authority of Mary charges 200 manats and often does not issue a payment receipt.
Bribes are often taken when buying airplane tickets. Air ticket agents say that there are no free seats for the next available flights but they refer potential passengers to an intermediary who can “resolve” the issue. The role of these intermediaries is often performed by road traffic police officers.
The official airfare from Mary to Ashgabat is 76 manats. After paying a bribe the price for a ticket increases two to threefold. At the same time, according to passengers, 30 to 40% of the seats in a plane are empty.
An alternative option to get from Mary to Ashgabat is an illegal taxi, which bypasses police checkpoints in the desert or is allowed passage for a bribe.
The fee from Mary to the capital is 300 to 350 manats ($10-11 using the “black market” rate) per passenger.A taxi driver from Mary takes passengers to Tejen where they transfer to a local taxi and he then pays 60 to 70 manats (about $2 using the “black market” rate) for each passenger from the amount he has received.
Local taxi drivers then take people on to Ashgabat.
A similar situation is being observed in other regions.
Closure of markets is another inefficient and corrupt restriction.
For instance, in Dashoguz vendors sell their merchandise around the central bazaar (Bai Bazaar), which was officially closed in November 2020.
According to locals, they have not seen a decrease in the number of vendors and are convinced that this closure has not curbed the spread of COVID-19.Nevertheless, residents claim that prices have increased because vendors now have to pay bribes to police officers for unofficial trade permits.
Despite the official closure of cafes and restaurants, some restaurants which are owned by members of the President’s extended family, according to our sources, are still operating.
For instance, the “Mandarin” restaurant in the shopping centre “Berkarar” on Ataturk street as well as “Melbourne Burger” restaurant located on the intersection of Magtymguly and Torgovaya streets are still open.
Customers do not need to make reservations or arrangements with owners or managers.The windows are covered with curtains but one can knock on the door and will be let in.
The fact that several waiters tested positive for coronavirus at the end of last week did not stop them from working.
Such a negligent attitude toward the pandemic by officials results in a similarly carefree attitude of residents towards the COVID-19 threat.
According to our sources, people on the streets wear masks not to protect themselves from the pandemic but rather to avoid fines.The social distancing regulation is not observed.
Just as before COVID-19, public transport is overcrowded and people stand too close to each other.Public transport is no longer disinfected with chlorine solution.It appears that it has been stopped because of numerous complaints by passengers that it is hard to breathe after the disinfection.
It was previously reported that queuing in front of the shops or banks is not allowed and customers have to queue a few hundred meters from the entrances.
Police officers who maintain order do occasionally allow three to five people to approach the store or an ATM and request hem to keep social distancing.Police officers have not been instructed to ensure that social distancing is kept by residents away from shops because officially there are no queues.
Police officers are no longer asked questions about how absurd the situation is. “Everybody understands that this is window dressing and they follow the instructions of high-ranking officials”, – one of the customers said.
Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” emphasize that residents are generally poorly informed about the pandemic. The majority of those interviewed admit that there are COVID-19 cases in Turkmenistan but many perceive this as a remote threat which has nothing to do with them.
It appears that poor coverage of the public health situation in the mass media also contributes to this.Preventive measures against viral infections are published in each issue of the newspaper “Neitralny Turkmenistan” but no mention is made to COVID-19 For instance, the 1 February edition of the newspaper reports the registration of “EpiVacCorona” vaccine in Turkmenistan, which is referred to as an “antiviral” medication rather than COVID-19 vaccine.
The post Turkmenistan’s inefficient COVID-19 restrictions used to coerce bribes first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.