Change of ministers will not change the policy of Kazakhstan, experts believe

There have been a number of personnel changes in the government of Kazakhstan in recent days. Yesterday the head of the republic's Minnatsekonomika, Erbolat Dosayev, resigned. Today the Minister of Agriculture, Asylzhan Mamytbekov, followed his example.

The chairman of Kazakhstan's National Holding ‘Baiterek’, Kuandik Bishimbayev, and the first deputy chairman of the country's ruling party ‘Nur Otan’, Askar Myrzahmetov, were appointed to the vacant posts to replace the ministers who resigned. Vestnik Kavkaza asked experts from Russia and Kazakhstan what the changes in the composition of the government are associated with.

The editor-in-chief of World of Eurasia, Edward Poletaev, noted that ‘Mamytbekov and Dosayev are quite specific political figures, who have often been criticized during their work in their ministerial posts. Despite this, they held their posts for a long time. In particular, Asylzhan Mamytbekov headed the Ministry of Agriculture in 2011, and many said that he cannot even be killed with a bullet, because agriculture is obviously an industry which is constantly criticized not only in Kazakhstan, but throughout  the former Soviet Union, but he held this position for quite a long time, and even at yesterday's meeting of the government, when his lack of adequacy was announced, Mamytbekov resigned the next day after Dosayev,’’ the expert said.

"Of course, this affected primarily those ministers who, strictly speaking, were close to these procedures. Others were appointed, but I do not think that these new people will bring any fundamental changes in the course of the government in the future. No one refuses to reform those things that have been announced, all this will go on. A moratorium was announced on the land issue. I think it will calm the situation down, people will be explained what's what, and then everything will be developed. Mamytbekov and Dosayev will sit on chairs aside, and then they will receive worthy positions,’’ he predicts.

As for the new heads of the departments, the expert praised them.

"In my opinion, Myrzahmetov has sufficiently prepared for his new role. First of all, before his appointment to the post of the deputy chairman of ‘Nur Otan’ he was the governor of the Southern Kazakhstan region, which is a developed agricultural region. And, if we often argue about Kazakhstan’s North as a seed region, where other cultures are represented in small amounts, Southern Kazakhstan is a large conglomeration and is full of crops. Kazakhstan’s turkeys are produced there, and cattle, and so on. In other words, this area provides a very large volume of the agricultural production due to the auspicious climate and agrarian specialization. Therefore, Myrzahmetov, who led this region before, is well suited to his new position, he has the experience for this,’’ the analyst believes.

"Kuandik Bishimbayev has proved himself to be a young, but quite a successful leader. Although, of course, the economy in the current difficult conditions requires inveterate training, both practical and theoretical. Nevertheless, as practice shows, now many senior positions in the executive branch are occupied by young people, the generation of the 70s. Among them there are many balashahers, graduates of Western universities who studied there under the state program. Reliance is placed on them, and as practice shows, it is more or less justified. These people are brave, they sense the new trends. Anyway, they are familiar with what is happening on social networks, and precisely this factor played quite an important role, because all these new changes in the law were discussed there. Dissatisfaction with the current government appeared precisely there, that is where people were gathering to rallies,’’ Eduard Poletaev concluded.

In turn, the director of the Institute of the EAEC, a member of the Zinoviev Club of the MIA Russia Today, Vladimir Lepekhin, explained these permutations are due to a general trend in the country, which lies in the fact that ‘’this is a personnel job or, shall we say, a purge of the country's leadership after the parliamentary elections." "It is determined by the criteria that are necessary and are key to the implementation of the new policy now, it seems to me, this is the formation of a new team,’’ he said.

"On the other hand, we know that the key problem of modern Kazakhstan is an alignment of the mechanisms of the succession, and the tasks pursued by the head of the country do not always coincide with the interests of certain clans. Some clans support his policy, others, respectively, think hard about implementing their interests in the future after the resignation of the incumbent president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and are beginning to sabotage some of his decisions, to promote their own people, who are not always supported by the head of the state policy,’’ the expert added.

However, he refrained from characterizing the new ministers. "It remains to be seen, because it is one thing to show a willingness to accomplish a task, and another thing is the ability to do so in actual fact. Nazarbayev has always been distinguished by the fact that he gives chances to these or those people in the highest positions, but at the same time, if people cannot cope with the tasks, he removes them. In any case, I think time will tell how successful the choice was. These people are being given a chance. I think the more unity there is around the tasks that will formulate Nazarbayev during the transition of the republic from a presidential to a parliamentary-presidential, the greater the prospects for the country are,’’ Vladimir Lepekhin summed up.