Members of key agencies have no intention to hold on to power: PM

[Lite Beer]

Members of key agencies have no intention to hold on to power: PM
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- PRIME Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has said that people in five key bodies set up by the junta have no intention of remaining in power.

"Should there be any intention [for them] to remain in power, then it would make no sense to establish all the existing anti-corruption mechanisms," the premier said yesterday.

Prawit Wongsuwan, a Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, echoed Prayut's comments.

Amid public concern that the new charter will be less democratic than previous ones, Prawit has said the drafting process is ongoing and when it concludes the charter will be submitted to the NRC, the NCPO and the Cabinet for approval.

Prawit added that the NCPO welcomed all recommendations in regard to the new constitution.

Speaking at an infrastructure construction and transparency event at Central World in Bangkok, the premier highlighted the government's close cooperation with the British government on the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST), which was launched by the latter in 2012.

It is hoped the move will ensure transparency and prevent corruption in all government projects in order to meet international standards.

Thailand's engagement in CoST aims to create an air of confidence in relation to these projects by preventing corruption through the creation of a system to scrutinise government work, the premier said.

Prayut emphasised that since the beginning of his administration, all anti-corruption units - the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission and the Auditor General of Thailand - had been working in cooperation with five committees the government set up, plus international organisations and CoST in pushing for concrete anti-corruption results.

Tackling corruption was not easy, the premier acknowledged.

"On a daily basis, every single task has to face various difficulties," he said, adding that the NCPO and the government intended to do everything they could to increase the country's pride and dignity by laying down ground rules for transparency.

"At the moment, the government has to face different sorts of problems," he said, adding: "We asked for people's support in government efforts to do away with corruption."

Despite these difficulties the premier said the fight against corruption in Thailand was improving.

The country moved up 17 places to 85 in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index rankings with a score of 38. It scored 35 and 37 in 2013 and 2012 respectively. (A score of 0 is highly corrupt and 100 very clean. More than two-thirds of the 175 surveyed countries scored below 50.)

"This shows a good sign, albeit not sufficient," Prayut said.

This difficult task required a contribution from every party of society, he said, adding that directly accessible information on state projects could raise public confidence.

The premier said the media must also play a role in providing information to the public on a wider scale.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Members-of-key-agencies-have-no-intention-to-hold--30255519.html

-- The Nation 2015-03-07

[NongKhaiKid]

If it's said often enough maybe members of the government will be the first to believe it but as for the public ... ?

[shirtless]

They have every intention to hold on to power would be more correct what turnip truck to they think the public fell off, retain power make money yes they must want to give that up for thainess,

[thesetat2013]

If they really and truly do not want to hold on to power then why do they oppose a 2 year ban from politics?

[Strangebrew]

Mr PM let me break this down for you. 1 you took the people right to assemble peacefully. You say you welcome feedback but in the end it falls on deaf ears.2 you say your going to get rid of corruption yet have you fired one single police officer? Well Mr. PM frankly I could go on and on but I feel it will fall on deaf ears. I'm not one of your lackeys that will nod approval of your every word, but I'am a man who will speak the truth to you. I suggest you take a good look at what has changed and what remains the same. Good luck it isn't an easy job but hard choices need to be made and enforced sparing none.

[jerojero]

Ha Ha ha. The best laugh I've had.... Not intending on bed get influential, receiving bribes, becoming horribly rich. Sure thing! Yep! We believe you.

[oneday]

Then why are they all whining about one CDC member's proposal about not being able to hold office for 2 years?

[lvr181]

Members of key agencies have no intention to hold on to power: PM

Only time will tell

[Daniel Ingalls]

The shuffling of Administer's around to halt corruption is like, moving the fox from one chicken coup to another coup! Who's watching

the eggs?