Call center to monitor govt irregularities

“Complaints lodged via the call centre will be compiled and resolved in due course,” Democrat MP Warong Dechgitvikrom said yesterday.
Following its weekly Shadow Cabinet meeting, the main opposition party decided to launch a check into the government’s scheme to prop up the price of paddy.
Warong said the party suspected that three types of irregularities could arise from the scheme – the false pledging of paddy; farmers being deprived of getting the full payment of Bt15,000 per tonne of paddy; and the failure to cover all the paddy that is pledged.
Aside from this scheme, the opposition will also monitor the government’s performance on a number of other issues, including the alleged interference in the management of state-run MCOT, which operates Channel 9, Democrat MP Thepthai Senapong said.
He added that the opposition would seek to impeach PM’s Office Minister Kritsana Seehalak and Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala if evidence points to them meddling in MCOT, which is an offence under Article 270 of the Constitution.
The opposition’s legal team is reviewing a memorandum Kritsana sent to Thirachai voicing objection to MCOT’s planned restructuring, he said. Should the memorandum be seen as interference in the freedom of media, the two would be targeted for impeachment, he said. Kritsana is in charge of media affairs, while Thirachai oversees state enterprises.
Another issue the opposition is looking into is the government’s first-home policy. Democrat MP Sansern Samalapa said the scheme had turned out to be half-baked, fuelling confusion and eventually short-changing first-time homebuyers.
The government has been adjusting this policy for the past two weeks, and it eventually came up with a version that disappointed both sellers and buyers, he said.
The three-year grace period for homes worth less than Bt1 million would not stimulate the economy as expected because 60 per cent of home transactions were worth between Bt1 million and Bt3 million, he said.
Also, the tax deduction allowances for first-time homebuyers were not attractive enough, he added. For example, a Bt50,000 income-tax deduction for a first-time buyer of a Bt3 million home was a barely marginal incentive.
The government has failed to deliver its campaign promises to first-home buyers such as offering them a five-year grace period and waiving transfer and mortgage charges, he said.
Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the cost of the first-car policy was equivalent to the amount spent on subsidising free bus and train services for the poor for seven years.
He added that this government appeared to have its priorities mixed up, adding that measures helping buyers of Bt3-million homes were implemented ahead of those buying homes for less than Bt1 million. Regarding the civil-service line-up, he said that making General Wichean Potephosree secretary-general of the National Security Council would cause problems.
The government had no justification in transferring Thawil Pliensri out of the NSC to pave the way for Wichean, he said, adding that if the Merit System Protection Commission rules that Thawil be reinstated, the government would have difficulty in finding a new job for Wichean.