Two Dozen Jailed in Turkmen Bakers Trial
Two Dozen Jailed in Turkmen Bakers Trial
The Turkmen authorities have handed down sentences of up to 14 years imprisonment to officials and workers in the grain production and baking industries. The 24, all from Dashoguz in the north of Turkmenistan, were accused of exaggerating their production figures.
NBCentralAsia commentators say the case reflects a common practice – under constant government pressure to achieve unrealistic output figures, producers and officials collude in massaging the statistics to show that they have met their targets. However, when things go wrong, scapegoats have to be found.
According to the opposition web-site Turkmenistan Chronicle, those convicted include the director of Dashoguz’s state grain agency, who got 14 years and had all his assets confiscated; bakery managers, warehouse workers and several farmers. A number of others received suspended sentences and were fined the equivalent of 1,000 US dollars.
This trial was unusual for two reasons – it was the first time so many people have appeared in court for some years, and there was an unprecedented level of public access to the courtroom.
The nature of the accusations came as little surprise to veteran observers of Turkmenistan, who see a pattern of encouraging officials and managers to overstate production levels, and then dismissing and jailing them for it.
“All local leaders know that they will only obtain an appointment [in grain production and processing] if they agree to play by the rules and take part in over-reporting,” said a local observer. “They’re also aware that these… posts in the grain production industry are lucrative, and that one can become extremely rich in the course of one season.”
Another commentator, based in eastern Turkmenistan, said, “If you reach your targets, you’re a hero. If you don’t reach them, you face dismissal at best, or a jail sentence for fiddling the figures at worst. So managers over-report in order to become heroes.”
While the state is now punishing local officials for inflating the figures, it is guilty of doing the same thing at national level.
The national wheat production target last year was about 1.5 million tons. The final harvest figure is unclear, but some economists the official figure could overstate the real harvest by 100 per cent. A veteran agricultural-sector employee said the government is reluctant to announce a more realistic figure, since this would show that the country is still a long way off its stated aim of self-sufficiency in grain.
Wheat production is low for a number of reasons - poor land management, a shortage of farm machinery and fertilisers, a lack of irrigation water, all of which contribute to the land becoming less and less fertile. This is compounded by the absence of economic incentives for farmers to become more productive.
(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
NBCentralAsia commentators say the case reflects a common practice – under constant government pressure to achieve unrealistic output figures, producers and officials collude in massaging the statistics to show that they have met their targets. However, when things go wrong, scapegoats have to be found.
According to the opposition web-site Turkmenistan Chronicle, those convicted include the director of Dashoguz’s state grain agency, who got 14 years and had all his assets confiscated; bakery managers, warehouse workers and several farmers. A number of others received suspended sentences and were fined the equivalent of 1,000 US dollars.
This trial was unusual for two reasons – it was the first time so many people have appeared in court for some years, and there was an unprecedented level of public access to the courtroom.
The nature of the accusations came as little surprise to veteran observers of Turkmenistan, who see a pattern of encouraging officials and managers to overstate production levels, and then dismissing and jailing them for it.
“All local leaders know that they will only obtain an appointment [in grain production and processing] if they agree to play by the rules and take part in over-reporting,” said a local observer. “They’re also aware that these… posts in the grain production industry are lucrative, and that one can become extremely rich in the course of one season.”
Another commentator, based in eastern Turkmenistan, said, “If you reach your targets, you’re a hero. If you don’t reach them, you face dismissal at best, or a jail sentence for fiddling the figures at worst. So managers over-report in order to become heroes.”
While the state is now punishing local officials for inflating the figures, it is guilty of doing the same thing at national level.
The national wheat production target last year was about 1.5 million tons. The final harvest figure is unclear, but some economists the official figure could overstate the real harvest by 100 per cent. A veteran agricultural-sector employee said the government is reluctant to announce a more realistic figure, since this would show that the country is still a long way off its stated aim of self-sufficiency in grain.
Wheat production is low for a number of reasons - poor land management, a shortage of farm machinery and fertilisers, a lack of irrigation water, all of which contribute to the land becoming less and less fertile. This is compounded by the absence of economic incentives for farmers to become more productive.
(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
