State Inspection Authority splits from government

The Party and government are carrying out more structural changes to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of State administration and better address economic difficulties and budgetary tensions.
 Under the restructuring plan, the State Inspection Authority now becomes an independent body under the supervision of the President of Laos, according to a resolution adopted by the Politburo recently. 
 The State Inspection Authority (previously known as the Government Inspection Authority) has been removed from government oversight and is now the responsibility of the State president, which should allow it to perform more effectively and fulfil its duties to the nation.
 The Government Inspection Authority was formerly chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister under the supervision of the government. He was also Head of the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Committee.
 The 11th Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party held in January this year elected Dr Khamphanh Phommathat as President of the Party Inspection Committee.
 If the President of the Party Inspection Committee and Head of the State Inspection Authority are the same person, as has been the case in the past, Dr Khamphanh will also be the Head of the State Inspection Authority.
 One of the main items on the agenda of the inaugural session of the National Assembly’s newly elected 9th legislature next week will be the election of the Chairman of the State Inspection Authority, to be proposed by the State president. Signed by Party Secretary General Thongloun Sisoulith, the one page resolution requires the government and State restructuring committee to further study ways to streamline some government departments.
Government departments will be reviewed and those found to have insufficient work or to be engaged in similar areas of work will be merged or transferred to the administrative offices of ministries. These include legislation, planning, external relations, planning and cooperation, cooperation, and finance departments.
In addition, the resolution highlighted the need to strengthen the role of the National Science Council by clearly defining its role and responsibilities so that it can perform more effectively. The council’s office has been transferred to the Ministry of Education and Sports.
The government recently dissolved the Ministry of Science and Technology, transferring its departments to other ministries including the Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
This is a significant move in state structural reform and aims to reduce administrative costs amid plummeting revenue and economic difficulties as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government is also hiring fewer civil servants by trying to put the right people into the right jobs to minimise expenditure and work within budget constraints.
This year the government will recruit only 1,600 officials, fewer than the 2,000 people recruited as state officials in 2020.

By Somsack Pongkhao
(Latest Update March 19, 2021)