Resuming a tour of the country to solve problems that he began in July, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday visited the eastern province of Mondulkiri, where he met students and pledged to construct new buildings for their school.

Speaking at Hun Sen Mondulkiri High School in Sen Monorom town, the premier, who will next visit Ratanakkiri, said donors would provide a two-storey building with 12 rooms, and another two-storey teachers’ dormitory, according to his Facebook page.

The “gifts” are just the latest in a series of unilateral edicts the premier has issued over the course of the tour, which some observers have characterised as a populist bid for votes in the upcoming elections.