NA renews efforts to hold govt officials accountable

National Assembly President Mrs Pany Yathotou interrupted parliamentary proceedings on Friday in an attempt to hold government members accountable to lawmakers, demanding the presence of missing government members.
“Do we have agriculture, bank and commerce sector (representatives) here? They are not here, Mr Deputy Prime Minister. If these parties are not here, who will the NA speak to? How about the technical staff of these sectors? Please raise your hands if you are here,” she said while presiding over the eighth session of the 8th legislature of the National Assembly, which opened on November 7.
Friday’s debate centred on the performance of government officials, in particular ministers, who are in charge of economic affairs. Mrs Pany’s pointed comments were made at a time when the country is in the midst of economic difficulties.

She said deputy ministers at least should attend the session to hear what Assembly members had to say, adding that the comments and suggestions of lawmakers would be guidelines for government officials in imposing and enforcing public policies.
“I would like to propose to the Deputy PM that at least deputy ministers should be present to hear what Assembly members have to say if ministers have other functions to attend. If ministers are not busy, they should be here so they can hear about problems and discuss ways to address them,” she said, adding that ministers should never be absent in the future.
National Assembly members welcomed the government’s attempts to address the country’s economic difficulties and acknowledged the government’s efforts to maintain growth amid external and internal challenges.
To sustain economic growth, members urged the government to devise concrete measures to implement their work plans as well as to inject financial resources to ensure effective implementation of the plans. Assembly member for Luang Prabang province, Ms Siriphone Souphanthong, in particular welcomed the reduction in the budget deficit. But she said concrete measures should be made to bring the budget deficit below 3 percent of GDP next year in line with the Assembly’s approved plan.
She also demanded that government officials explain the reason for the drop in Official Development Assistance (ODA), adding that the Assembly had approved the government’s plan to source 2 trillion kip in ODA this year.
However, over the past nine months, the government has only been able to source 800 billion kip, accounting for just 39 percent of the approved plan. Assembly member for Saravan province, Mr Thongdy Chanthanvong, said he welcomed the growth in GDP. But, he said, this growth should lead to the setting up of agricultural produce manufacturing plants so that farmers had markets for their produce.
Assembly member for Phongsaly province, Mr Chansy Sengsomphou, said the government should have a clearer strategy on the production of goods for export and should identify which areas to promote to sustain economic growth.
He said there should be specific measures to govern the effective collection of revenue and expenditure of the State budget. He also said the revenue base should be clearly identified.
Assembly member for Attapeu province, Mr Phetkeo Duangphanya, said the government should address chronic problems such as strengthening economic productivity and improving the performance of state-owned enterprises.
He said he understood that the root cause of many problems was that the government did not enforce laws and called on government officials to explain why they did not do so.
If the government was unable to enforce laws, he suggested that the government request changes to laws so that they could be applied and were effective.

ByEkaphone Phouthonesy
(Latest Update November 11, 2019)