Regardless of how cynical that might sound, but any catastrophe is the ground to repress political opponents – writes Daniyar Ashimbayev in his telegram-channel (literal translation below):

“Detective quest for those guilty of the big fire in the Abay Province acquired a way too peculiar format. Of course, the Emergency Response and Relief Minister is guilty, and our President dismissed him. On the other side, President officially reprimanded the Abay Akim and clarified that he did not sack him, because he had been in his office for only one year. The celebration of an anniversary of the Province really did distract its leadership from response. Coincidentally, the community suddenly remembered the fact, that earlier, the present Akim dealt with civil construction and land development in Almaty and Astana.

There were talks about the responsibility of the Minister of Ecology and Nature Resources. She has been in her office for less than one year, but forestry is under her auspices and only a month ago, the young Minister reported to the Government, that we were ready to face any forest fires.

Territorially, the fire is now raging in the jurisdiction of the Akim of the Abay Province, but legalistically it is under the auspices of the Forestry Committee of the Ministry of Ecology and Nature Resources. But suddenly, the informational attach changes targets. Mr. Daniyal Akhmetov, Akim of East Kazakhstan is called guilty. Earlier, the Abay Province was a part of the East Kazakhstan Region, so some people expressed thoughts that Daniyal Akhmetov ruined the forestry and the fire-fighting system. Akhmetov is the most experienced of all Akims. He has been a target for informational attacks for a long time. Because he is an effective state manager, and his enemies only augment those informational attacks.

So, it was a rather fortunate overlap of circumstances that gave his enemies grounds to assign him guilty.  Because the Akim of Abay Province, as well as the Minister of Ecology are young people, that need to be spared, because they still have not dived deeply into the specifics of their jurisdictions. As for Akhmetov, he is an old man and he may be assigned guilty. Who cares about such minor details, as that Akhmetov has nothing to do with the affairs of the new Province and that forestry is under control of the Ministry of Ecology in the capital? Those are inferior nuances.

At the same time, everybody knows that should the fire take place in Mr. Akhmetov’s auspices, there would not be such a mess. I express with, that Abay Province and Ministry of Ecology officials stopped thinking about public relations and got accustomed to assuming responsibility, as the fire has not even been localized yet”.