Government reforms to streamline ministries
THE government aims to overhaul public administrations within all ministries and conduct an internal structural assessment of select ministries and state institutions in 2024, prompted by the possibility of overlapping functions.
Prime Minister Hun Manet made the announcement at the launching ceremony of the administration’s “5th and 6th Priority Policy Programmes”, under the Pentagonal Strategy-Phase I, on November 20.
“From 2024, I have set the goal of reforming state institutions. Therefore, all ministries need to review the internal structure of roles and responsibilities within their respective departments to prevent dual tasks,” he stated.
“We must determine which areas require strengthening and how to proceed. For instance, consider the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology and the Ministry of Rural Development, which have overlapping assignments. We need to assess such situations and have already made some progress,” he added.
Yang Peou, secretary-general of the Royal Academy of Cambodia, expressed support for the reforms. He emphasised that for the effort to succeed, the prime minister must have a genuine commitment and the courage to implement them.
He pointed out that state institutions and some ministries had concurrent tasks, which was evident to journalists, the public and politicians.
“When the functions of the ministries coincided, and when there were vested interests within a workplace, staff competed for tasks. Conversely, when they lacked any vested interests, they exhibited indifference towards their duties. This resulted in a state of inactivity, leading to inefficiency in the expenditure of state funds. This is what actually occurred,” he said.
He went on to explain that should the reforms prove successful, the government could merge the redundant ministries into a single entity. By doing so, there would be a reduction in national budget expenditure and the public would applaud the efforts. The functions of the bodies would no longer intersect.
“Transparently resolving these issues depends on the determination of politicians, the ruling party and government leaders. If there is a genuine commitment to reform, progress can be made. However, without the will to enact real change, these reforms will not materialise,” he added.
Yang Kim Eng, president of the People Centre for Development and Peace (PDP-centre), acknowledged the significance of reforms but noted the challenges in swiftly merging state institutions due to the numerous political officials involved, such as advisers, secretaries of state and undersecretaries of state.
He highlighted that the overlapping tasks had imposed a significant financial burden on the nation.
“If we focus solely on sub-national reforms without addressing nationallevel reforms, progress will be slow. I believe this process to be complex and not easily resolved,” he said.