Chalerm: No sacking of governor
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Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung yesterday denied calling for the sacking of Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra over his mishandling of flood management, saying he was just citing a legal point.
“It’s not easy dismissing an elected governor. There will be no dismissal of him. He’s working hard and I’m no interior minister capable of doing that,” he said.
Chalerm said he was drawing on his experience in drafting the 1985 law establishing the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) when he told the party meeting that the Interior Ministry, which supervises the BMA, could fire a Bangkok governor.
He said only gross misconduct or severe offences could throw a Bangkok governor out of a job, and he was neither in the position nor had the authority to evaluate Sukhumbhand’s or any other Bangkok governor’s performance.
“Let’s now say that let’s not dismiss him,” he added.
Sukhumbhand said he felt no agony over Chalerm’s statement and could only sit back and smile in response.
“I’ve known him all along. He would have let me know about my dismissal had he wanted to seek it,” he said.
He also refused to comment on whether the BMA had been overlooked when a second committee was appointed by the government to oversee flood prevention without any BMA officials or representatives on it. “Everything depends on the prime minister,” he added.
