Democrat Party asks PM to push for amendment of constitution, increase budget to “local” to 40%, praising it sweetly, if it can be done, people will remember the name forever, struggling to counter “cross-pole government”, saying that only the people ask to help move the country forward
In the joint meeting of the parliament, with Mr. Wan Muhammad Noor Matha, the president of the parliament, acting as the chairman of the urgent meeting to consider the cabinet’s policy statement to the parliament according to Section 162 of the constitution, Mr. Chaichana Dejdecho, deputy leader of the Democrat Party, said he thanked the prime minister for including the 3 conditions that the Democrat Party had proposed for joining the government: 1. solving the problem of agricultural product prices, 2. solving complex land problems, and 3. decentralizing power.
Mr. Chaichana said that he would like to advise the government on decentralization to local administrative organizations. Although the Prime Minister’s policy state
ment on decentralization was written at the end of the statement, the 2017 Constitution, Chapter 14, Article 249 (2), clearly states that the establishment of local administrative organizations in any form must take into account the intentions of the local people and the ability to govern themselves in terms of income, number and population density. Because decentralization since 1999 has had the intention that power should be decentralized and the budget should be allocated to local governments no less than 35%, but in the past 25 years, it has only been 29%.
Mr. Chaichana continued that he believed that Thailand would move forward if local governments were strong and had income. Today, with the flood crisis in Chiang Rai, the first agency to provide assistance was the local government organization. It took a long time for the central government to get there. What the people were waiting for was to keep an eye on how we would proceed with decentralization because the Democrat Party was the first political p
arty in Thailand to do decentralization since the time when Mr. Chuan Leekpai was the prime minister. We proposed upgrading all local government organizations so that local governments could govern themselves and rely on themselves.
Mr. Chaichana continued that we hope that in the government’s policy to amend the constitution, I would like to ask the Prime Minister to draft a new constitution. Do you dare to write that in the future we will decentralize 40% of income to local governments and enact it as a clear constitution? If the Prime Minister can do it, I believe that Thai people and leaders of local government organizations will remember the name of the Prime Minister forever. I am confident that the Prime Minister will push for 100% decentralization and I believe that we must move forward to make it happen. This is what I and my fellow Democrat Party members have entrusted to this government.
‘I have been listening to the debate since morning. Some political parties like to use the word ‘transverse go
vernment’ a lot. I would like to say that Thailand has only one pole: the people’s pole. There is no transverse government. Don’t create rhetoric. Let’s talk about moving Thailand forward, creating good things for Thailand. We have a new government and a new prime minister. Let’s work together to do our best for Thailand. If there is anything wrong, let’s advise and tell them,’ said Mr. Chaichana.
Source: Thai News Agency