The Lieutenant Governor nobody sees

Daniyar Tologonov has been Lieutenant Governor of the ISEZ since 2007, the first to hold the office. This year he has become hard to find.

He was not on the reviewing stand at the Irad Day parade in March, where he has stood beside the Governor for a decade. He did not attend the opening of the Mejlis session in September or the opening of the new grain terminal in Nurzhan in June, and he was absent from the Governor's reception for the diplomatic corps. The Governor's press office, which publishes a weekly list of those received by Erlan Toktarov, has not listed him since February.

A falling-out?

Several newspapers in Talas have reported a falling-out between the two men. The reports have given different reasons: a quarrel over appointments, over the 2019 ticket, over a family matter. The Times has spoken to four DPI officials, none of whom would be named. Three said the two men had not spoken in months. None would say why.

The silence

Mr. Tologonov's office said he “continues to carry out his duties in full”. The Governor's office said it did not comment on “speculation”. Neither man has said anything in public.

Under the Elective Governor Acts the Lieutenant Governor acts for an absent or incapacitated Governor and succeeds him if the office falls vacant. If the man next in line has not spoken to the Governor since February, the public is entitled to know. We have asked both offices to say, in writing, when the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor last met. We will print the answer when we have one.