The head of Kyrgyzstan‘s security agency on Thursday threatened to crack down on ministers of the Central Asian country going on vacation.
“There shouldn’t be a single minister lying on the beach in shorts and sunbathing. Don’t let me see this, dear ministers,” Kamchybek Tashiyev said, warning he could “take measures” in response.
“We must work hard. We must not rest… Rest at home. If you become ministers, then work,” the head of the powerful GKNB security service said, according to news agencies.
They also reported that Tashiyev had called on the ministers to lead by example and start their work day at 6:00 am.
Tashiyev is a close ally of President Sadyr Japarov, who was elected several months after being released from jail during dramatic unrest over a parliamentary vote in October 2020.
After being convicted of a coup attempt in 2012 when they were both in the opposition, the two politicians have formed a power-sharing tandem in the mountainous republic of 6.5 million people, analysts say.
Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, is an ally of Russia that is also developing ever closer ties with neighbouring China.
Since independence in 1991 the country has seen multiple political crises and three revolutions in 2005, 2010 and 2020.
