FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Bureaucracy should play key role in fight against corruption, prime minister says

Bureaucracy should play key role in fight against corruption, prime minister says

THE BUREAUCRACY should play the most important role in the fight against corruption, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday.

He said the bureaucracy “should be the first place to start”. Good governance should be implemented in the public sector to create a better atmosphere to fend off corruption.
“Good governance is important in rooting out corruption. It should be the fundamental value everybody holds on to. Everything has to be transparent and accountable,” the prime minister said.
“Public interest must be put before personal interest. So the system can be strengthened and the country can move forward,” he said.
Prayut was addressing a conference on “Evidence-Based Anti-Corruption Policies”, held by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) at the Sukosol Hotel in Bangkok yesterday.
He said rooting out corruption was a national priority, adding that good governance should be set up to tackle irregularities in the bureaucracy.
Corruption is deep-rooted in Thailand, he noted. His regime had been working hard to fight against graft, which is a major aspect of its national reforms.
However, he said corruption could only be eliminated when everybody takes part in combating the issue.
National Legislative Assembly (NLA) member Kitti Wasinondth, speaking at the same event, voiced support for the prime minister’s remark that corruption in the bureaucracy was a major issue that needed to be taken on. Thus countering corruption was among the priorities of the lawmakers and they had developed legal mechanisms against the problem.
He said the NLA had proposed amendments to the organic law against corruption to make sure that Thai graft laws improved. Among the amendments were suspending and removing officials to prevent them from abusing power in order to avoid prosecution.
NACC commissioner Pakdee Pothisiri reported the organisation’s progress in combating corruption to the conference. He noted that Thai strategies against the crime covered both prevention and suppression.
Other key speakers said Thailand now had better prospects than ever in tackling corruption and bribery because the government and people in general had strong political will and political commitment to deal with the issue.
Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Tuesday that the Cabinet had agreed to enhance the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission to have similar capabilities as the NACC. This was mainly to improve its effectiveness in inspecting graft in the bureaucracy.
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