APRIL 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A stinky lake is apparently keeping Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev awake at night.
This week, he reprimanded the mayor of Astana, Adilbek Dzhaksybekov for his inability to get rid of a stench emanating from the Taldykol lake, just behind Nazarbayev University’s shiny new buildings.
Everything in Astana must be pristine, all the more because next year Kazakhstan’s capital will host EXPO-2017, an occasion for Mr Nazarbayev to project a prosperous image for his country.
If Mr Dzhaksybekov cannot clean up the air near Taldykol, Mr Nazarbayev threatened to have him transferred in a yurt on the lakeshore.
Mr Nazarbayev has grown increasingly wary of excessive government spending, as the regional economic downturn hit the country hard. For the first time in more than a decade, the country’s GDP might shrink in 2016.
Public shaming is not unusual in Kazakhstan and state television is not adverse to showing Mr Nazarbayev bashing sheepish officials, who, terrified, have to listen to the veteran leader’s rantings.
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(Editorial from Issue No. 278, published on April 29 2016)