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Cambodian Authorities Strengthen Good Governance
The Cambodian government has been raising public awareness on good governance and transparency, and gradually perfecting legal system in a bid to strengthen good governance.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that transparency should be regarded as one of the key elements of good governance which includes accountability, predictability and participation through which the public is able to enhance confidence in the public services.
At the international conference on building a coalition for transparency opened on August 22, Hun Sen noted that the royal government considered that good governance is the backbone of its reform programs, so the authorities have adopted the Governance Action Plan in March, 2001 in order to bring governance-related initiatives to ensure smooth and coherent implementation.
The governance action plan calls for a predictable and enforced legal system that is conducive to protecting individual rights and freedoms of the people and promoting investment both domestic and foreign, he said.
The premier affirmed that the government has recognized that transparency is an efficient mechanism to fight corruption which diverts public resources from infrastructure investments that could benefit the poor, such as roads, bridges and irrigation system. He added that transparency in public administration plays a critical role in mobilizing domestic and external resources to meet the needs of development.
Since the establishment of the second-term government in 1998, tremendous efforts have been deployed by the government in drafting new laws and regulations although at present Cambodia still lacks many important laws and regulations conducive to effective functioning of the rule of law.
The Audit Law was approved last year by the legislative bodies, and recently the National Audit Authority has been set up and will become fully operational shortly.
The authorities have made measures to implement reform plans in various fields, such as to enhance public administration and the court system, to improve the efficiency of the public services.
Institutional structures and mechanism have been established to improve management and implementation of the military demobilization, administrative and judiciary reforms, Hun Sen said, adding that the government has conducted competitive recruitment of civil servants in a transparent manner.
In addition to those achievements, the authorities have made substantial progress in cracking down on illegal logging, the increase in tax revenue, the removal of ghosts from the army and the confiscation of land, which has been sold off or held illegally.
With the help from international community, Cambodia has completed draft of the Anti-Corruption Law and now it is being examined by the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers. The Land Law also was approved by the National Assembly recently.
Concerning the issue of anti-corruption, the premier reiterated that having only anti-corruptin law is not sufficient, Cambodia should have other legislation relating to management such as an industrial code, a commercial code and so forth.
To attain the goal of strengthening good governance and anti- corruption, the government needs to develop a strong cadre team of directors who understand their role and exercise their responsibilities within the system, so more investments are required to be put into training and recruitment of competent and ethical individuals, as well as enforcement of the rules in a timely and fair manner.
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