Democrats blast 'lack of transparency' in budget debate

Adding to criticism of the government’s rice-pledging scheme, Democrat Phitsanulok MP Warong Dechgitvikrom raised the problem of rice farmers being “cheated” when they sold their output to the government. 

This involves the evaluation of humidity and contamination of the rice, as well its weight, he said.

Democrat MP Kiat Sittheeamorn raised the problem of circumvention and said that at least 3 million tonnes of rice was estimated to have been involved in the practice. The Department of Special Investigation is investigating the cases, he added.

Pheu Thai Phitsanulok MP Niyom Changpinij said the government’s rice-pledging scheme was better than the previous administration’s price-guarantee scheme as it was more “sensitive” when it came to payment, with farmers being paid according to the quality of their rice.

Democrat MP Rachada Dhnadirek proposed cutting the requested budget by 5 per cent, saying many of the proposed projects were vague. 

Without any grounds to support the case, the projects specify the number of people expected to benefit from the budget, even though it would be allocated as an emergency fund, she said.

“How could you know the number of local administrative organisations that will need the money in the event that their income decreases because of the restive situation in the South? The Local Administration Promotion Department has set the budget in advance, saying there will be 177 local administration organisations receiving the money because their tax income will decrease,” she said. 

“I totally agree with the principle of the project to promote the efficiency and quality of life for government officials in the southern border provinces, but when I asked what they would actually do to achieve this, there were no details apart from the figure of Bt57 million,” she added, referring to the part of the budget request allocated for the PM’s Office Ministry.

The Democrats also raised what they described as inefficiency in the government’s administration, with Kiat questioning the policies on energy. 

The rise in fuel prices in Thailand has not been in line with the global market, he said, besides which many farmers could not afford to buy engines that run on gasohol.

Moreover, there are no serious measures to stop the smuggling of natural gas for sale abroad, he said. On the other hand, the government has spent money to compensate for the cost of gas imports.

“Is it fair that the government asks for money from Parliament while it subsidises fuel that was actually smuggled out of the country?” he said.

Kiat also mentioned the increased fuel-tariff (Ft) rate for electricity. 

He said the cost of natural gas used in electricity generation had been calculated for Ft purposes at Bt15-Bt16 per kilogram. While the real cost of the fuel had never been revealed, he referred to a study by Chulalongkorn University stating that the cost of the gas at source was about Bt8 per kilo. 

Adding in operating costs, the actual natural-gas cost for electricity generation should be no more than a little over Bt10, the Democrat said.