ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- “Active work without formalities, bureaucracy, and unnecessary meetings. More deeds, fewer words.”
This was how Kazakhstan’s new Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov summed up his philosophy on government on February 6, the same day he was parachuted into the position from his prior role as President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev’s chief of staff.
The second sentence here is key: More deeds, fewer words.
Because in Kazakhstan, speaking is for presidents, not prime ministers.
The following day, 70-year-old Toqaev spoke for nearly an hour in an address to an expanded session of government.
As he spoke, Kazakhstan’s mainstream media fired off headlines.
“Toqaev gave the government a year to solve problems in the construction industry.”
“Toqaev criticized the situation with the roads in Kazakhstan.”
“Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev ordered a doubling of the funding for agriculture.”
“Toqaev: The Water Resources Ministry is not delivering the expected results.”
“Toqaev gave instructions on tariffs for public services.”
“Toqaev: ‘Every heating season, the same problems’”
Most of these are old gripes. All of them are now the 43-year-old Bektenov’s responsibility.
After thanking lawmakers in the president-loyal parliament for their support -- 69 backed his candidacy, with seven abstaining -- Bektenov did not pretend to have an independent policymaking vision.
“The head of state has provided specific instructions regarding the economic development of the country, which will be carried out,” he said.
But will Bektenov -- Kazakhstan’s first prime minister with a law enforcement background -- be able to “carry out” those instructions any better than his predecessor?
No. 2 Is The Loneliest Number
Alikhan Smaiylov became Kazakh prime minister in January 2022, in the immediate aftermath of the country’s worst independence-era unrest, when at least 238 people were killed.
Serving as first deputy prime minister prior to that, he replaced Askar Mamin, who had been appointed by Nursultan Nazarbaev just before the then-Kazakh leader resigned presidential power and allowed Toqaev, who was Senate chairman at the time, to step up as head of state.
At just less than two years and one month, Smaiylov’s was the third-shortest of the 11 completed premierships in Kazakhstan’s 32 years of independence.
Former Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov (file photo)
But for all that, he did not fall very far from the median time afforded to a Kazakh head of government -- two years and five months.
In fact, he served in the role for a similar length of time to Toqaev, who managed two years and four months slightly more than two decades ago.
It is when presidents start grumbling about government performance -- often echoing irritations expressed by the public -- that power starts draining from Kazakh premiers.
In this sense, Smaiylov had been a dead man walking for some time.
He survived a government shake up after parliamentary elections last spring and more rotations in the fall. But talk of a new prime minister had persisted since his first year in office.
Assessing Smaiylov’s government on February 6, Toqaev was conciliatory, noting economic growth of 5.1 percent last year and a “positive dynamic of development” as a “significant achievement.”
But in his February 7 speech at the expanded session of government he called for regular annual growth of 6 percent in the coming years and stressed economic liberalization, modernization, and an all-government drive to drum up foreign investment as priorities.
Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev (file photo)
The problem with that, according to Kazakh political analyst Dimash Alzhanov, is that Kazakhstan’s current political system leaves little space for initiative on the part of ministers and their cabinet chief.
“Both the prime minister and the cabinet of ministers are fully accountable to the president. Under these conditions, presidential absolutism is a serious limitation on government activities,” Alzhanov told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service.
The Smaiylov premiership could be seen as both “a victim and a consequence” of this situation, Alzhanov argued.
Following a quick reshuffle, the vast majority of officials from Smaiylov’s cabinet have retained their posts, with fresh appointments to head the Economics, Finance, Health, and Emergencies ministries, giving an indication of where Toqaev is seeking immediate improvement.
A New Generation Of Officials
If Smaiylov’s dismissal had seemed to be in the cards, then Bektenov replacing him proved a surprise to many observers.
To be sure, chiefs of staff have become premiers in the past, and vice versa, but Bektenov has been a fairly low-profile operator to date.
Up until his appointment -- and unlike several of his cabinet colleagues -- he did not even have an English-language Wikipedia page.
Praising his protege in parliament, Toqaev called Bektenov “disciplined, honest, and hardworking” while praising his “high organization skills” and “extensive knowledge in economics and other areas.”
Before spending 10 months as Toqaev’s chief of staff, Bektenov led the Anti-Corruption Agency, a position to which he was promoted from deputy in the wake of the January 2022 unrest that left hundreds dead and brought an end to Nazarbaev’s domination of political life.
As evidence emerged that lethal clashes in Kazakh cities had been at least partly driven by a high-stakes power struggle between the political camps surrounding the two men, Bektenov’s agency was at the heart of investigations targeting Nazarbaev allies and some of the former president’s relatives.
The lawyer by training has also been at the center of efforts to recover and repatriate billions of dollars of stolen assets belonging to the ex-ruling clan and other Nazarbaev associates.
A prime minister who is a lieutenant general by rank might help whip Kazakhstan’s cabinet into shape in the short term.
But the government’s economic performance won’t be the only thing on Toqaev’s mind.
Having only really enjoyed the kind of powers enjoyed by his overbearing predecessor for the last two years, the career diplomat is now busy recasting the elite in his own image.
That process will be all the more important to him in that he has pledged not to extend his presidency beyond his current term, which ends in 2029.
Bektenov is part of a new generation of officials who, while beginning their careers under the octogenarian Nazarbaev, owe their first leadership-level positions solely to the current president.
Aybek Dadebaev was appointed to head President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev’s administration on February 6, 2024.
His replacement as chief of staff, Aybek Dadebaev, is the same age as Bektenov and previously occupied lower-ranking positions in Toqaev’s administration.
Marat Nurtleu, 47, a long-time protege of Toqaev's, is currently serving as foreign minister, having been chief of staff prior to Bektenov’s appointment in the spring.
Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Nurtleu
The new emergency situations minister, 40-year-old Shyngys Arynov, was at the beginning of this week serving as the head of Toqaev’s presidential security.
And Nurlan Baibazarov, the 49-year-old economy minister -- a post that comes with the rank of deputy prime minister -- is a cabinet debutant, having been moved across from the state-owned Baiterek financial holding group, where he spent just a few months in charge.
Bektenov’s age of 43 years and 56 days at the time of his appointment, incidentally, makes him Kazakhstan’s youngest ever prime minister -- a record that can also be extended to include the period when Kazakhstan was a Soviet republic.
His closest rival for that honor?
Nursultan Nazarbaev, who was about half a year older than Bektenov when he was appointed chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in 1984.