'Selection panels for agencies need fixing'

significant check and balance roles must continue to exist in the new charter but their selection process must be improved to get qualified and suitable members, according to panelists at a seminar held yesterday in Trat.
Those five institutions are the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Ombudsman, the Election Commission, the Office of the Auditor General and the Office of the National Human Rights Commission. Panellists included National Legislative Assembly (NLA) deputy president Surachai Liengboonlertchai.
After discussing how to improve the roles of the check agencies and their future, panellists agreed the selection committees for these five agencies must comprise more than seven people who must come from various sectors of society in order to recruit qualified and suitable members to sit at each agency.
They agreed that members of each agency should serve only one term of six years and their roles and responsibilities must not overlap.
Former ombudsman Pichet Soontornpipit stressed the importance of rewriting the definition of “independent” agencies. “Some people think that it means they can do things at their own whim but it actually means they can work without political influence or interference,’’ he said.
Pichet also proposed that ombudsmen be given power to punish. For instance, if any state agencies ignored ombudsman’s orders within 90 days, they should face
disciplinary action. He said the ombudsman should also be given responsibility to check politicians’ ethics. He said he did not believe that the proposed “Confederation of Morality and Ethics” would be able to carry out the check role alone. “Ethics is a big issue and should not be taken care by only one agency,” Pichet said.
Pichet suggested that politicians should be banned from being part of the selection committee for independent agencies, saying he feared bribery and kickbacks would come into play.
He said whoever is chosen to be selection committee members must possess a clean track of record.
To increase the check efficiency of the ombudsman, courts should grant immunity or an injunction for 30 days during an ombudsman’s investigation. The ombudsman should also be given the right to file civil and criminal suits in place of the public and check local government officials at all levels such as kamnan, village heads, and executives at state enterprises.
Pichet also proposed that those found guilty of violating ethics and codes of conduct should be banned from politics for life.
Apart from changing the composition of the selection committees for the five bodies, the panellists pushed for an increase in the level of public engagement by allowing them to impeach members of the independent bodies.