Tag Archives: appointments

Georgia ministers resign

NOV. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The fallout from the sacking of Georgian defence minister Irakli Alasania rumbled on. As predicted, Georgia’s foreign minister, Maia Panjikidze, and minister for European integration, Aleksi Petriashvili, both also resigned.

They belong to the same party as Mr Alasania, the Free Democrats. The party also withdrew its support for the Georgian Dream coalition, wiping out its majority in parliament.

Mr Alasania was officially sacked for insubordination after he criticised the arrest of ministry of defence officials for alleged corruption.

These sackings weaken the government of PM Irakli Garibashvili. They have also created a potentially dangerous political enemy in Mr Alasania. He was one of the most charismatic ministers and could drum up support to challenge the government.

For now, though, Mr Garibashvili and his patron, former PM and leader of the Georgian Dream coalition Bidzina Ivanishvili, were quick to deride Mr Alasania as an ambitious adventurer.

The coalition that Mr Ivanishvili created and that Mr Garibashvili leads had been built for one main purpose — to topple Mikheil Saakashvili from power. With that ambition achieved in parliamentary election in 2012 and presidential elections in 2013 it was always likely that the coalition was going to unravel. This unravelling is a natural re-balancing of Georgian politics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)

Uzbek authorities sacked head of Tashkent police

NOV. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan have sacked the powerful head of the Tashkent police force, Colonel Abdumajid Mullajonov, and several of his deputies, media reported.

Over the past year intrigue has gripped Uzbekistan over the demise of the once all-power daughter of President Islam Karimov, Gulnara Karimova, and her associates. Sources in Tashkent said, though, that dismissal of Colonel Mullajonov, the son of the Central Bank chief, was not linked to politics.

Instead media said he had been sacked for corruption and bribery.

The importance of the change of leadership at the Tashkent police force is to highlight the flux that these powerful Uzbek institutions are currently going through.

Uzbek sources said Colonel Mullajonov allegedly misappropriated businesses of a sugar magnate who was a close business partner of Ms Karimova, and that he owned dozens of fuel stations in the two largest cities in Uzbekistan.

Uzbek politics, business and power are closely linked. The sacking of Colonel Mullajonov and his colleagues adds more intrigue to a fluid domestic situation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)

Georgia PM sacks defence minister

NOV. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s PM Irakli Garbishvili sacked his defence minister Irakli Alasania for insubordination, throwing the coalition government into its most severe test of credibility since winning power at a parliamentary election in 2012 and then a presidential election in 2013.

Mr Alasania is head of the Free Democrats party which could withdraw its support for the Georgian Dream, the opposition coalition put together by Georgia’s richest man Bidzine Ivanishvili to oust Mikheil Saakshvili from power.

Georgian foreign minister, Maia Panjikidze, and Aleksi Petriashvili, the minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, are also members of the Free Democrats and are likely to resign from the government.

Without the 10 Free Democrats MPs, Georgia Dream loses its majority in Georgia’s parliament. It drops its representation to 75 MPs, out of 150.

Reports from Tbilisi said Mr Alasania was furious about the arrest of 10 officials from the ministry of defence for alleged corruption. He countered that the officials were innocent and that the arrests were part of a plot to undermine his staunchly pro-NATO and pro-Western agenda. The current government is broadly pro-West too, although it has mended ties with Russia.

Mr Alasania was on a trip to Europe when the arrests took place. Despite a busy schedule he still found time to openly criticise the arrests. This was enough for his boss, Mr Garbishvili, probably with the support of Mr Ivanishvili, to fire him.

Mr Alasania is a popular politician. His sacking has shaken Georgian politics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Kazakh President appoints new minister of defence, again

OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked his defence minister Serik Akhmetov after only six months in the job and replaced him with the powerful mayor of Astana Imangali Tasmagambetov.

No official explanation was given for the sacking, although analysts were quick to come up with two theories.

The first is that Mr Akhmetov was linked to the former governor of the central Karaganda region, Baurzhan Abdishev, who has been tarnished by a corruption scandal. With Mr Nazarbayev pursuing an anti-corruption agenda, he may have wanted to purge his cabinet of potential problems.

The second theory is that with the Ukraine civil war rumbling on, Mr Nazarbayev wanted to ensure that his military was up to scratch. Mr Tasmagambetov is one of his most loyal lieutenants and appointing him as minister of defence will ensure that his orders are carried through effectively. Mr Tasmagambetov has previously been head of the presidential administration, prime minister and mayor of Almaty.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Kazakh President reshuffles anti-corruption unit

OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked Abdrashit Zhukenov and Ali Komekbayev from their posts as the deputy chiefs of the Financial Police and Agency for Civil Service Affairs, part of a strategy to reorganise the agencies in charge of combating corruption.

Mr Nazarbayev has wanted the ministry of finance and the newly-created Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti- Corruption to take over managing corruption cases in a high-profile move aimed at grabbing the attention of international investors who are worried about corruption levels as much as people living inside Kazakhstan.

This year a number of high profile officials have been arrested and charged with corruption.

Muslim Omiraev, former deputy at the ministry of agriculture was arrested in December 2013 and sentenced to 10 years in prison (Oct. 16). Earlier in September, police arrested the former governor of Karaganda, Baurzhan Abdishev for corruption. He goes on trial in November.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)

Kyrgyz PM sacks two ministers

SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev sacked two cabinet ministers, minister of culture Kamila Taliyeva and interior minister Abdyldy Suranchiyev, his first major reshuffle since taking over the job in March.

The sackings are a nod to public dissatisfaction with the government, with reports growing that many ministers are hanging on to their jobs by a thread.

But they may be less about improving the efficiency of government and more about preparations for next year’s parliamentary elections. With a winter energy crisis expected to put pressure on both President Almazbek Atambayev, affiliated to the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, and Mr Otorbayev, loosely associated with the socialist Ata-Meken party, dropping a few unpopular officials makes political sense.

Kyrgyz media reported that both the sacked ministers where disliked, making them easy scapegoats for failings across government but personnel changes are unlikely to spare the government public frustration if the winters are as cold as expected, especially with Kyrgyzstan’s power production struggling.

Ulugbek Erkeshev, a Kyrgyz political journalist, said he has seen it all before.

“At a time when they need to be working together as a government around the clock they are passing portfolios around,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Tajik senior officials fall from grace

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s been a bad week for senior officials in Tajikistan. Media reported that a court in Dushanbe had sent the daughter-in-law of a senior Tajik diplomat to prison for 12-1/2 years for drug smuggling and that President Emomali Rakhmon had sacked the head of the Tajik railway company after his son was involved in a deadly crash.

ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Kazakhstan sacks high-profile officials

JAN. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked the head of the government’s budgetary committee Aslan Musin. Mr Musin used to be head of the presidential administration, one of the most powerful jobs in the country.

(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)

Kazakhstan sacks high-level bureaucrats

JAN. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked Aslan Musin as head of the government’s budget committee, completing the fall from grace of the man once dubbed the Grey Cardinal of Kazakhstan.

A few days later Mr Nazarbayev wielded his axe again, this time taking out Marat Tazhin, Secretary of State, and Ghalym Orazbaqov, the Kazakh ambassador in Moscow.

These were serious power plays by Mr Nazarbayev. He may have been looking to bolster his supporters as he decides how to deal with the thorny succession issue.

The risk for Mr Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan and investors, is that he may also have created powerful enemies.

Mr Musin’s decline has been fast. In 2012 he was the head of Mr Nazarbayev’s presidential staff and one of the most influential people in the country. Analysts discussed him as a potential presidential successor, building his power-base in the west of the country.

In September 2012, that changed when Mr Nazarbayev replaced Mr Musin with Karim Massimov, the PM. Mr Musin, who had been the head of the presidential administration for four years, was sent to head the government’s budgetary committee, a relative backwater.

Now Mr Musin has dropped out of government entirely. He was replaced by Dzhanburchin Kozy-Korpesh, who worked under Nurtai Abykayev, head of the National Security Council and an adversary of Mr Musin.

The sacking of Mr Tazhin also demonstrates the power of Mr Massimov. Mr Nazarbayev delegated the responsibilities of the Secretary of State temporarily to Mr Massimov.

Neither Mr Tazhin nor Mr Orazbaqov had strong links with Mr Musin but what comes next, and who replaces them permanently, is important.

(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)

Berdymukhamedov reshuffles Turkmenistan’s government

JAN. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — An autocrat and an eccentric, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov started 2014 in flamboyant manner.

First, on Jan. 6, a video surfaced on the internet of Mr Berdymukhamedov behind a DJ deck playing his favourite pop songs to an adoring crowd. He relishes the attention, adding backing vocals and a clutch of confident jiving hand movements.

A few days later Mr Berdymukhamedov got back to the more serious business of governance by sacking his gas and banking chiefs.

Since becoming president in December 2006, Mr Berdymukhamedov has earned a reputation as a shrewd single-minded and flamboyant showman.

Turkmenistan has grown rich over the past few years as Mr Berdymukhamedov expands its client list for gas. This makes the sacking of Kakageldy Abdullayev, previously head of Turkmengaz, the more significant development. He had been in the job for a year and was officially sacked for not diversifying the company fast enough. Mr Abdullayev’s replacement is the little-known Charymuhammed Hommadov. Mr Berdymukhamedov also sacked the head of the Central Bank Tuvakmammet Japarov without specifying why.

(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)