Govt bracing for censure debate challenges

Among the major issues likely to be raised by opposition MPs during the censure debate is the corruption problem involving Cabinet. This is going to be a big problem for the administration led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is not known for her debating skills. Yingluck has often avoided parliamentary debate and assigned her Cabinet members to respond to opposition queries intended for her.

 

The “big boss”, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is believed to be pulling the strings behind the ruling Pheu Thai Party, has reportedly been worried for the government about the possible opposition onslaught. He does not want his sister Yingluck to become the main target in the censure debate.

 

This could be a reason why the next Cabinet reshuffle, expected to take place shortly after former executives from Thaksin’s disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party completed their five-year political ban on May 30, has been postponed.

 

Thaksin wants the Cabinet members involved to remain in their seats and answer to the opposition allegations during the censure debate, according to some sources familiar with this matter. If they are removed in the Cabinet shake-up, their replacements will not be liable to answer the opposition’s allegations for them. It will be the prime minister, as the government head, to take the duty of answering to the allegations against her Cabinet.

 

The task would be too difficult for Yingluck and she would end up being grilled completely by Democrat Party MPs who are known for their political expertise and legal knowledge.

 

The prime minister has learned about irregularities relating to some government projects. The big ones involve the government’s rice price-pledging project, the compensation for victims of last year’s floods, and the budgets allocated to local administrative organisations all over the country.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who oversees the Royal Thai Police, has been assigned by the PM to head an anti-graft committee recently set up by the government.

The Chalerm panel, set up shortly before the new parliamentary session and the expected censure debate, could be intended to create an impression that the government is serious about tackling corruption. This could be a way out for the government during the opposition grilling, at a time when corruption has become a big problem in the administration.

 

The “hottest” of the irregularities involves a government plan to sell more than 10 million tons of rice from its price-pledging scheme. It has been reported that certain businesses close to Pheu Thai and businesspeople acting as the ruling party’s political canvassers are making profits from the rice sale.

 

Chalerm said the Comptroller General’s Department informed him about many cases of questionable budget spending.

 

“This kind of work has made me uneasy. Any action will affect many friends but I can’t avoid it because the prime minister has assigned me to do the job by Cabinet resolution,” he said.

 

He added that as the panel’s chairman, he is working with many relevant state agencies, including the Department of Special Investigation, Ministry of Justice, Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission, as well as the Royal Thai Police.

 

Chalerm called a meeting of his panel last Friday, which agreed to dispatch 11 police teams to areas where irregularities have been reported. It was also agreed to provide post box, hotline, and websites to receive complaints about irregularities, with focus on the rice price-pledging project, the flood compensation, and the local administration budgets.

 

Some 2,000 policemen will be dispatched to all the 917 locations where the government buys rice from farmers under the price-pledging programme. The policemen’s work is to watch for “any dishonest process” and to help farmers get fair prices, according to Chalerm.

 

Chalerm’s team will also look into the complaints of unfair compensation paid to flood victims, a project funded with a budget of Bt120 billion, and complaints of irregularities involving many local administrative organisations.

 

“The prime minister told me that any politician involved in irregularities will face legal action, without exception,” Chalerm said.

 

The government appears unlikely to stop at the three major corruption issues. The Cabinet on July 24 resolved that a centre to scrutinise irregularities must be formed in every government ministry.

 

It is interesting to wait and see whether tackling corruption – which is the government’s second “national agenda”, after tackling the drugs problem – will see any satisfactory progress. Let’s hope that this is not just a ploy to tackle the government’s own problems in the upcoming censure debate.