Cambodia ensures deep reform of state institutions for prosperities

Cambodia ensures deep reform of state institutions for country’s prosperities



H.E. Dr Sok An, deputy prime minister, minister in charge of the council of ministers, chairman of the council for administrative reform said in the sideline during the two days third Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum that the country has made progress in each of the three areas including administrative reform, legal and judiciary reform and public services.

On behalf of the anti-corruption unit, the council for legal and judicial reform and the council for administrative reform, I would like to take the opportunity of this third CDCF to salute efforts of our partners that have aligned their development programs to the priorities of the royal government,” Dr Sok An said in his Speaking notes in the sideline of two -day Cambodia development cooperation forum (CDCF), attending from foreign diplomats, senior officials.


“Peace and political stability throughout the nation provide us with opportunities to enhance the prosperity of the country and the wellbeing of the people that we could only dream about a few years ago,” he said, adding that “Now is the time for us to seize these opportunities and make headways in areas that important in our globalized and unstable world. Good governance and the rule of law which are at the heart of the royal governments’ rectangular strategy for growth, employment, equity, and efficiency.


He stressed that the fight against corruption, the legal and judicial reform and the administrative reform are closely related. Since the last CDCF, the government has made important progress in each of these three areas including the law on anti-corruption was promulgated on April 17 and civil code, civil procedure code, and the penal code procedure, and the penal code have been promulgated and are being actively implemented. Access to legal and judiciary information has been improved significantly through a variety of means such as the publication of legal texts and court decisions.

He she that functioning of the judiciary has been enhanced through interactive and accelerated training programs, the implementation of the model court projects, building and renovation of court houses, the deployment of justice centers for legal services at district level and the establishment of various mechanisms such as arbitration councils for labor disputes, cadastral commission and the national authorities for land disputes resolution.

He added that compendium on public services, a transparency and anti-corruption tool that outlines terms and conditions for individual public services, is being finalized and sections that related to services to business have been disseminated already.

“Practices and processes relating to the management for human resources within civil administration are being streamlined, made more transparent and merit based. Established controls are being strengthened,” she added

He noted that work concerning the establishment of the priority operating costs instrument (POC) is progressing well and when ready for implementation by the end of June 2010, it would greatly facilitate the alignment, harmonization, and adjustment of practice.

“ We got the success in each of these elements, in one way or another, the rule of law in our country and the pace is accelerating. In fight against corruption, we have accomplished some remarkable achievement,” he said, adding that We are actively structuring the mechanism necessary to the effective implementation of the anti-corruption law. In the regard, we are mobilizing all necessary resources and nominating trustworthy and compete leaders and qualified staff.

“We will develop capacity of the institution to enforce the law, to promote public awareness of the negative effect of graft and to jointly support the national action plan for combating corruption,” he stated.

He added that in tandem with legal and judicial reform and the administrative reform we will remove causes of corruption and provide people with recourse and redress mechanisms.

“The legal and judicial reform will, we continue to improve the functioning of the courts by completing laws pertaining to the judiciary including the statute on judges and prosecutors, the law on the organization and functioning of eth courts and amendments to the law on the organization and the functioning of the supreme council of the magistracy, train notaries and bailiffs, further implement the model court concept and draft the administrative code and administrative procedure code,” he added.

He stressed that the objective of the administrative reform is to serve people better for the prosperity of the national and wellbeing of people. To do so, we shall make public institutions and process more transparent, responsive and efficient. And we shall change attitude and behavior from that of administrators to service providers by promoting motivation, loyalty, professionalism and a culture of services throughout the public administration. The proposed JMIs (Joint monitoring Indicators) illustrate well major elements of our programs of action for the coming period.

At the moment, our effort focus on two important elements of the reform included the compendium on public services, and priority operating cost instrument (POC). POC is a transitory tool to support the delivery of public services.

Three key words will characterize the establishment and management of POC including alignment, harmonization, and adjustment. In 2009, development partners spent over 20 million US dollars involving some 13,000 civil servants in various form of salary supplementation scheme. Surely, we can do better and do it in ways that are more transparent, more merit based and more equitable.

He said that On April 29, I met a group of high level representatives from development partners. We agreed on core principles to guide our efforts concerning the POC and to empower technical teams. POC is a transitory measure which shall be reviewed in 18 months and that shall replace all forms of salary supplementation by the development partners.
“Compensation in the civil responsibility of the state that shall meet strict criteria, the compensation in the civil survive depend ob economic growth and thus government revenues. This year is pivotal year for reform and after successfully facilitating the unification and structuring of the civil service reforms,” he added.

“The reform has achieved important milestones over yea and I am encouraged by its future prospects,” he said. ###