In March 2022, while interacting with school students, he said, “The most difficult profession in the world is to become a human being.”
In March 2023, he is an elected member of the parliament of Kazakhstan.
We are talking of Daulet Mukaev, the hugely popular blogger, TV journalist, and founder of the Dauletten Charitable Foundation.
He contested the parliamentary elections held in Kazakhstan on 19 March 2023 on the ticket of the Amanat party. Fiercely vocal on all the issues that pull at his heart, Mukaev was co-opted to the political council of the Amanat party in April 2022.
The inclusion of a person like Daulet Mukaev into the higher body of the Amanat party, the decision of the party to give him the ticket for the parliamentary elections, and his resounding victory on the single-mandate seat in Astana, are the clear indications that the change promised by President Tokayev is sprouting already.
Considering the fact that Amanat is the ruling party, the election campaign of Mukaev, at times, sounded like the campaign of an opposition candidate.
At a gathering of the voters, he criticized the loan conditions for the Young Family programme of the Otbasy Bank.
He roused the voters: “Due to the lack of a roof over their heads, thousands of families are getting divorced, how many children are being brought up in single-parent families. This is a huge tragedy for future generations. As you know, I have been talking about the problem of housing for several years now. Various changes are needed in the country’s housing programs.”
He said, “The “Young Family” programme of Otbasy Bank is completely ineffective. Reason: the initial contribution of the program is 50%. It is very difficult for young people who have just started a family to collect such a contribution. In the program “Young Family”, which I now offer, the initial payment should not exceed 10%.”
It is expected that from inside the parliament he would be able to push for reforms to bring the Young Family programme in line with his vision.
The accomplishments of Mukaev are many and varied.
His Dauletten Charitable Foundation has initiated the Bala Shagamen – Soltustikke project. Launched last year, at the start of the project, five families with large number of children in Shal akyn area were provided with houses.
Keeping in view the material and human resources available to the foundation, the project arranges housing for five families at a time. After the Shal akyn area, his foundation provided houses to five families in Petropavlovsk, and again to five families in Sergeevka.
Speaking to the Kazakh publication Qyzyljar News, he explained how this programme works:
“From 5 to 15 April this year [2022], we received 1311 applications. We considered everything systematically. At the first stage, 20 families were selected from among the declared participants, who scored high. The psychologist interviewed them. Ten families made it to the next qualifying round. At the final stage, members of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, deputies of various levels, social activists, and journalists personally talked to the project participants. During the conversation, special attention was paid to the work, business ideas of the resettled people. Thus, we chose five families from Almaty, Zhambyl, Mangistau regions and the city of Shymkent. All of them have many children; the total number of people is 39. Each of the five families has up to 5-7 children. We also paid attention to this. The settlers mainly want to engage in animal husbandry. Some are close to trading
“We ask them for a business plan. Projects are checked, reviewed by my team members. To start a business, we give one million tenge free of charge to each of the five families, 60 thousand tenge monthly – for six months. In addition, 8-10 tons of coal, moving, travel expenses are fully paid by the fund. It takes some time for the settlers to get into the business. To do this, we assign these types of assistance. We make sure that they do not move back to their native places after receiving assistance. Most importantly, by the beginning of the new school year, we will provide school-age children with the necessary stationery and things.
“The cost of our houses is about 5-7 million tenge. We pay special attention to the quality of housing. Five families decided to settle in one place, that is, in the neighborhood. Those who have moved will live there for three years. Prior to this, the property was owned by the Foundation.”
Part of the reason for deciding to provide housing to the deserving families is that Mukaev is a financial consultant and property developer.
His blog, offering financial consultation to thousands of people, mostly free of cost, is genuinely valued by his subscribers.
His foundation has ventured outside of Kazakhstan. In 2021, he helped solve the potable water availability problem for a community in Gambia, Africa, by financing the digging of a well. This was done in collaboration with Ms. Ainur Tursynbaeva, a popular media personality in Kazakhstan with following in many countries.
Mukaev is just 30 – there is a long road ahead of him. We are happy for Kazakhstan that such people are voted into the parliament. This will help speed the implementation the process of transformation to a New Kazakhstan. /// nCa, 23 March 2023 [photo credit – Astana International School, Dauletten.kz]