ASTANA -- Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has appointed Olzhas Bektenov, the former head of his administration and an anti-corruption watchdog, as the Central Asian nation's new prime minister just a day after dismissing the government.
Toqaev signed the decree on Bektenov's appointment on February 6, hours after the ruling Amanat party nominated Bektenov to the post, a move quickly approved by lawmakers in parliament.
No explanation was given for the change, but Toqaev has been critical of the cabinet, blaming it for stubbornly high inflation and failing to improve the country's crumbling infrastructure.
Bektenov, 43, has served as head of the presidential administration since April last year. Before that, he was head of Kazakhstan's Anti-Corruption Agency, a post he was appointed to right after unprecedented anti-government protests in January 2022 that significantly weakened Toqaev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, and his clan.
That appointment in 2022, which coincided with Bektenov's promotion to lieutenant general, was announced as Toqaev publicly accused what he called "the country’s previous leadership" of corruption and nepotism.
Several of Nazarbaev's relatives and close associates lost important posts and influence at the time, some of whom were handed prison terms on charges of financial misdeeds and fraud.
Bektenov's predecessor, Alikhan Smaiylov, led the cabinet after the January 2022 unrests that left at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
The Kazakh prime minister's press service said earlier that the government is scheduled to hold a session on February 7 with Toqaev's participation, at which social and economic developments of the year of 2023 and their results will be discussed.
According to the statement, the cabinet's session will also outline plans for further economic and social reforms.
Smaiylov called his two-year tenure as the oil-rich former Soviet republic's prime minister as a "decisive period" for Kazakh society, stressing that his team "worked to implement reforms and secure social and economic stability" in the country.
After strengthening his political position following the January 2022 events, Toqaev announced his New Kazakhstan policy oriented toward democratic reforms. However, many in Kazakhstan consider the reforms as merely cosmetic with a crackdown on dissent continuing even after the reforms were announced.