Another Clean Sweep in Turkmenistan

A major reshuffle in Turkmenistan follows a well-worn pattern of appointing officials only to sack them later when it is discovered they are incompetent, corrupt or both.

On January 12, President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov dismissed 18 provincial and district governors for “grave failings”. Two days earlier, the administrative chief of the presidential office, and the heads of Turkmenistan’s migration service, national airline and fisheries agencies were removed.

They were replaced either by their deputies or by officials transferred from other government institutions. The new presidential office chief, for example, is outgoing deputy prime minister Hojamuhammed Muhammedov.

On past record, the new incumbents might not last long, either. Reshuffles and ritual sackings have been the stuff of Turkmen politics since Saparmurat Niazov – replaced by Berdymuhammedov after he died at the end of 2006 – was in power. Every six months or so, Niazov would conduct a purge and jail a number of disgraced ministers.

Selection was – and still is – based not on merit but on personal allegiance, loyalty, kinship and tribal factors. This was not enough to ensure things ran smoothly; hence the periodic purges.

Officials dismissed under Niazov often left the country or switched to work that left them less exposed.

Berdymuhammedov has pursued a similar policy of replacing those around him on a regular basis, albeit with some differences. (See: Turkmenistan’s Clannish Leader http://iwpr.net/report-news/turkmenistan%E2%80%99s-clannish-leader )

In 2009, he sacked almost half the cabinet for “failing to understand” the reforms he had in mind. Many of their replacements were in turn sacked at a later date.

"It’s naïve to believe a deputy who takes over from his chief is going to be any more successful," an economist based in Ashgabat said.

In 2008, Berdymuhammedov opened a civil service academy to train up more professional officials. But the economy said the institution was simply "mechanically churning out like-minded executors of command who are incapable of showing initiative".

Other commentators argued that Berdymuhammedov rotated his staff because he had no really competent people to draw on.

"The personnel purges have resulted in a completed lack of professional managers," an experienced government official said.

He added that he often came across people who lacked educational qualifications and had bribed their way into mid-level positions. "One departmental head had only eight years of schooling,” he said. "There are no suitable candidates, so we get by without them."

"The authorities need to end this inefficient selection and appointment policy where professional skills are relegated to secondary importance,” an analyst in the eastern Lebap region said.

The World Bank’s governance ranking for 2009, places Turkmenistan close to the bottom of the list for effective government and competence of public servants, with only North Korea, Burma and Eritrea considered worse.

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.