Minister of Interior Sar Kheng.
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has instructed municipal and provincial governors to prepare 2020 work review reports and set goals for this year to highlight development achievements in their localities.
The work review reports must incorporate achievements and challenges of national-level working groups, detailed programmes and relevant documents.
According to Sar Kheng’s letter dated January 11 on “2020 work review results and 2021 goal setting for municipal and provincial administrations and national-level
working groups”, these reports are to be sent to the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Administration by the end of January.
The letter stated that when organising assemblies, municipal and provincial administrations must strictly carry out Covid-19 protective measures according to guidelines laid out by the government and Ministry of Health.
The letter said the government had formed national-level working groups to help people in local communities. These groups are tasked with inspecting and supporting political platforms and the government’s Rectangular Strategy Phase IV implementation.
The purpose of these groups is to strengthen public service provision to people and socio-economic development in localities with quality, effectiveness and inclusiveness.
Stung Treng Provincial Hall spokesman Men Kong said the provincial administration had already reviewed the work implementation reports from last year.
“We have already reviewed the 2020 works. There are many reports, so we will summarise and collate them in the near future,” he said.
Preah Sihanouk Provincial Hall spokesman Kheang Phearom acknowledged that the provincial administration would prepare reviews as instructed by the interior ministry.
“Before organising a conference to present the 2020 work results, we will organise a review meeting among all relevant departments and units at the provincial level,” he said.
Preah Sihanouk provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc Cheap Sotheary said that last year, civil society organisations (CSOs) in the province had received good cooperation from the provincial administration.
He said the provincial administration did not restrict meetings held by CSOs. But there were many problems related to land disputes because the provincial administration had not well implemented the instructions by the prime minister.
“Prime Minister Hun Sen has told the provincial administration to solve land disputes in localities [moderately], and they must not arrest people. But Preah Sihanouk province has used court procedures to detain people involved in the disputes, especially last year,” she said.
