AKHMETZHAN ESIMOV'S RIDDLE

1. A simple-minded opinion concerning the new appointment and Akhmetzhan Esimov himself

We'll start with commentaries - simple and most offensive:
… the man who earlier equated a bottle of water with a bun will certainly ruin the city. Was it really impossible to find a younger and more educated person?
http://www.zonakz.net/articles/?artid=21573

Well, OK. Our Akim (Tasmagambetov) turned out to be in demand in the capital. Quite natural. But who needs that Esimov? I don’t understand. Are we in the country’s main collective farm, and do we need a former minister of agriculture? Esimov, you are not needed here! Do you understand? http://www.zonakz.net/articles/?artid=21573

Experts express similar opinions, yet their evaluations are more polite.
Evil tongues say that he is Nursultan Nazarbayev’s kinsman, supposedly a nephew… Akhmetzhan Esimov is a typical ‚Kazakh agashka’… In short, he is one of the golf-players who are not so much interested in victory, they most likely prefer to take part in the game with ‚good’ partners. Such people never lose sight of their advantages, and at the same time they never afford gross violations of the commonly accepted morals, including betrayal of their bosses.
http://freeas.org/?nid=7683

…Deficiency of the state personnel reserve and an inconspicuous appointment of a new head of the Almaty administration, in our opinion, imply an attempt to depoliticize to a certain extent or diminish the political significance of the Almaty mayor. http://www.liter.kz/site.php?lan=russian&id=151&pub=10173

Esimov is not experienced in running such megapolis as Almaty, though here certain managerial and organizational skills are required… Esimov’s experience is most likely of Government origin, taking into account that he mostly moved and changed posts in that circle.
http://www.and.kz/160/Za_odnogo

Esimov’s loyalty toward Nazarbayev was the determinative factor in favor of his appointment as the Almaty Akim: Nazarbayev simply decided that the former agricultural minister would not turn Almaty into a political testing area for gaining popularity. In this regard, Esimov is in no way his rival.
http://www.and.kz/160/Za_odnogo

Esimov was never noted as an enterprising and efficient manager because he did not feel the necessity to develop feverish activity. Under the President Esimov played the role of an executive official; he was always at hand and ready to work within the limits of his potentials. So he will not become the volcano of innovation ideas for Almaty.            
http://www.and.kz/160/Za_odnogo

We would like to attract the reader's special attention to the following:
He has the image of nonchalant agashka. He is nobody’s enemy, he worked with everyone, and he has a subtle perception of the matters. He is absolutely trustworthy! Absolutely!
ttp://www.exclusive.kz/?uin=1210050660&chapter=1210053547

Can you feel the difference - 'he has a subtle perception…'?

2. Akhmetzhan Esimov is the right mayor
Let us recall: at the very beginning Esimov made an energetic start. On Monday the main avenue of Almaty - Al Farabi - was blocked, and dozens of special machines paved it with, indeed, plain asphalt. That was a kind of demonstrative show, as if he wanted to say, ‚See, I am doing anew, I have to do anew after your former beloved one.
And what about the new Akim’s statement about demolishing of the newly built by Atameken Kurylys 21-storied dwelling house (partly populated, according to a hearsay)? That statement indirectly hits at Tasmagambetov’s self-esteem: it turns out that the construction of that house was carried out with Tasmagambetov’s complete connivance, or possibly there existed other reasons not to ban the construction.
http://freeas.org/?nid=7683

Esimov came to Almaty with 100%-support of the President. As far as we understand that was his proviso before the appointment - Nursultan Nazarbayev’s personal support, first of all in financial issues.
If we can do it in the second quarter, then already at the turn of June I’ll raise a question of the second and third transfers’, he said. Esimov stated that, according to the state program of protection of house-building shareholders, it is planned to spend in Almaty over T58 billion.
http://www.regnum.ru/news/fd-abroad/kazakhstan/economy/994712.html

He made this statement at the session dedicated to the financial support of the state for accomplishing construction of buildings in Almaty.
One of us (N. A.) got to know that when Tasmagambetov came to Atyrau to occupy the post of Akim (that was his first managerial appointment after the posts of minister of culture and Vice-Premier for social issues) he said to his close circle of deputies, ‚Let us come to understanding - we will not steal! (It’s nearly a literal citation; by the way, at that time the main task of Tasmagambetov was to organize the celebration of 100-years anniversary of Kazakh oil; today he is also engaged in similar activities in Astana).
We are ready to firmly assert that Akhmetzhan Esimov will exert every effect to effectively use all the assets he may get for solving the city problems at such a strained moment of the economic crisis!
The Almaty mayor’s position as a public figure, except that of the President, is unique on a Kazakh scale. Neither the post of Premier, nor the post of head of the President’s Aadministration, nor even the position of the President’s deputy for political party issues can be compared with the mayor’s extremely important position. The latter will become in extreme demand in crisis situations, which may possibly be avoided due to titanic efforts. 
Possibly Adilbek Dzhaksibekov’s figure heightens the status of his position as a political party functionary; there, in the party, the realignment is going on, but the latter is far away from being finished with regards to the goals set for it by its leader. It’s necessary to wait at this point. You may rightly consider that Akhmetzhan Esimov’s personality may somehow grade his political significance. But on the contrary, in our opinion, he will overcome it and do it in his own way. He will do it!
Now we’ll have to turn to history to justify our reasons.

3. Concerning certain psychological aspects of the discussed problem

All experts and commentators simultaneously asked themselves a question: what position would Imangali Tasmagambetov, Almaty predecessor of Esimov, occupy in Kazakhstan? They had in view the extensive biographical list of the today’s mayor of the capital: he was a Premier, a Vice-Premier, a minister, a head of the President’s Administration, a State Secretary, the Akim of the oil oblast, and the Almaty Akim. They decided: the only post that remains to be granted to him must be that of Astana mayor!    
And what about Esimov? What posts did he occupy? We’ll see something nearly similar to Tasmagambetov’s service record… NEARLY SIMILAR, BUT!…
In the inset you’ll see an excerpt from his biography. Now we would like to pay attention to his two most important positions. After that we’ll analyze the data.  
1. The President’s Administration
Twice, however for a short period of time, Akhmetzhan Esimov occupied the post of the head of this Administration: for the first time in 1996 from July to October as an acting head of the Administration (combining his duties with the State Secretary’s duties), and for the second time in 1998 from February to August.
2. Government
Here he occupied the post of Vice-Premier. Skip through the list of his authorities - actually he was a Premier!
Two ‚approaches’ in Esimov’s biography attract our special attention: he was practically the (acting) head of Administration and practically the head of Government.
In contrast to Tasmagambetov, Esimov occupied those posts in the most difficult period of the country’s political development. At that time Akezhan Kazhegeldin, today’s undisguised and irreconcilable adversary of the regime, was a powerful premier, and by 1996 the President himself and his milieu already perfectly understood his ambitions. It was Esimov who received from the President nearly all-embracing authorities enumerated in the book ‚Who is who in Kazakhstan, 2001’. (See the inset) Contrary to expectations, his ‚APPROACHES’ did not lead him higher than the post of acting head of Government: the President did not entrust him with the post of Prime Minister.
Nazarbayev could not do it! During 1997 - 1998 the world economy suffered from crisis occurrences.
They affected Kazakhstan through 3 factors:
* lowest prices for raw materials;
* crisis in Southeast Asia - was already noticeable in 1997;
* Southeast Asian influences in Kazakhstan (later the August default occurred in Russia; the same would also inevitably occur in our country, if only…)
It was exactly at that time that the President decided to conduct the pre-term painless elections. That was absolutely necessary because Kazhegeldin obviously anticipated an economic collapse, he considered that the Kazakh leadership was unable to solve problems without him. The only ‚air-cushion’ that could save the situation was the large-scale sale of state property with a view to use the proceeds and, in general, all accessible assets for ensuring the elections. Only Tengiz oil was at stake; no major buyer was interested in any other potential off-shore oil. In our opinion, and we consider that was also the President’s opinion, only such oil official as Balgimbayev, and in general, only oil could save the situation.
The position of Premier was not left for Esimov, and only that position would suit him after he had been entrusted with those authorities he had in the last months of Kazhegeldin’s tenure.
Half a year he worked as a full-fledged head of the Administration, but here the tandem Sarsenbayev-Tazhin prevailed.    
The elections were scheduled on January 1999, and in August 1998 Esimov leaved Kazakhstan for Belgium as an envoy.
And he repeatedly wrote from there importunate messages: ‚I occupied those and those posts, Sarsenbayev failed, and I substituted him…’ and so on.
It is possible to regard the following biographical inset as a TEXT. In this connection we would like to cite our favorite author : ‚While analyzing [the text], we’ll try to be consistent with the following fundamental assertions: …the text implies system unity (1), which manifests itself through repeated motives (2)…’ The author offers 8 necessary methods for analyzing the text. We are more interested in the second one - motive analysis.
We fancy: Esimov sits somewhere in Belgium and emphatically writes from there, ‚I was, I was, I was…’
Today, just like in 1996-1997, at the extremely important moment of the country’s economic and political (!) development, Akhmetzhan Esimov occupies the most important economic and political post in Almaty. We think that, if for Tasmagambetov the post of Astana Akim means the motive of closing the career, then for Akhmetzhan Esimov new horizons come in sight.

Excerpts from Akhmetzhan Esimov’s biography (Who is who in Kazakhstan, 2001):
… From October 1994 to March 1996 - deputy Prime Minister of RK in charge of agricultural issues. From October 1994 to March 1995, due to the fact that the Supreme Soviet did not approved A. Sarsenbayev’s candidacy to the post of vice-premier, he also supervised the social sphere (till I.Tasmagambetov’s appointment).
From March to October 1996 - state secretary of RK. In accordance with the 12 March 1996 Presidential decree ‚On the status and authority of state secretary of RK’, he elaborated for the President the proposals on major issues of social, economic, regional, and lawful policies; he also ensured coordinated functioning of all power branches, presented the President’s interests in his interrelations with Parliament, Government, Constitutional Soviet, and Supreme Court; he conducted international negotiations on behalf of RK; he coordinated the activities of National Bank, Accounting Committee for supervising the republican budget flows, General Prosecutor’s Office, KNB, National Agency for the media… The decree was repealed in 18 October 1996.  Simultaneously from July to October 1996 he executed the duties of acting head of the President’s Administration; from June 1996 to April 1997 he worked as the chairman of the human rights commission under the President of RK.
From October 1996 to February 1998 he worked as the first deputy of Prime Minister of RK, supervising the issues of state investment policy, foreign-economic activities, regional and manpower policies (November 1996 - August 1997), agriculture (July - December 1997), operative management of economy, and social sphere (October 1997 - February 1998). Simultneously he occupied the post of State Committee chairman for investments (November 1996 - February 1998). From 22 September to 10 October 1997 he executed the duties of Prime Ministers of RK.
From February to August 1998 he was the head of Administration of the President of RK.
From November 1997 to August 1998 he worked as a member of the National Soviet for sustainable development of RK.
Since November 1998 he occupied the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of RK to Belgium.