Prime Minister Hun Manet leads the cabinet meeting last week. STPM
Prime Minister Hun Manet has urged any capital-provincial administrations that have not yet established working groups at the town, district and commune level to do so by the end of March.
Manet explained that the working groups are necessary to enhance the provision of public services, solve problems and meet the needs of the local populace.
On December 1 last year, the government announced the composition of the leadership of each of the groups, adding that they should pay frequent visits to local residents.
According to the premier’s March 1 instruction, the teams should work with the relevant national-level ministries and institutions, as well as the capital-provincial administrations, to establish the exact composition of the working groups.
At the same time, the working groups shall work to disseminate the central principles of the seventh-mandate government’s political programmes. They should strengthen and enhance the responsibility of the authorities at the local level, so they can serve the people effectively, while striving to solve challenges related to the lives of local people.
To strengthen and improve the efficiency of their work at all levels, Manet advised any administrations that have not established the groups to do so by month’.
“In addition, each of the administrations must enter a report on the assignment of the working groups to the Office of the Council of Ministers by early April, so the council can prepare a summary report for the government,” added the instructions.
All capital and provincial governors are required to monitor the organisation of the Secretariat of the Royal Government Working Group to ensure they visit people at the local level, in order to guarantee their effectiveness.
“All working groups must pay close attention to the localities where they are assigned. They will be responsible for promoting the implementation of the government’s Pentagonal Strategy, and must offer assistance to the public in a timely and effective manner,” said the instruction.
Yong Kim Eng, president of the People Centre for Development and Peace, said that when it comes to the establishment of the working groups, the most important thing is to ensure that mechanisms are in force to allow the officials to have the necessary skills to devise effective solutions at the local level.
“Each team must be capable of working at the grassroots level. Unfortunately, some individuals have been in their positions for decades, but are still incapable of solving even basic problems,” he said.
“Some people have been heads of offices at the district level for 20 years, but the question is: Are they able to offer solutions? This is a problem that should be considered. Is it necessary to strengthen the grassroots teams?” he added.
Kim Eng expressed concern that if the government sets up more working groups than are required, it can affect the efficiency of work, as well as consume an excess of state resources.
“If we continue to establish new teams, we will need to allocate a greater budget. We know that if each team spends a lot of time in the field, it will use a lot of the state’s financial resources,” he said.
The previous government had also established working groups tasked with pushing for the implementation of reform programmes for the benefit of people at the local level.
