Laos to improve transparency

"The Law on State Inspection will enable us to work more effectively," said Vice President of the State Inspection Authority, Mr Thongsy Ouanlasy, in an interview with the Vientiane Times on Wednesday.

The National Assembly passed the Law on State Inspection in June and it is expected to be promulgated by the President in the near future, said Mr Thongsy.

He said in the past his organisation was mandated only to follow a prime ministerial decree when it carried out inspection work, but now it had to implement the law, which is more applicable and enforceable than a decree.

A decree covers government administration bodies but the law covers all situations and every person from every walk of life, including government officials.

In fact the content of both the decree and the law are not much different, he said. Mr Thongsy explained that with the law in place, his organisation can now carry out regular inspections of all levels of state administration throughout the country. "No one will able to refuse inspection," he said.

He explained that inspections aimed to ensure that administration processes were transparent and to prevent officials from using their power for personal gain. The inspections also ensure that officials are aware of their good and weak points.

He said the aim was also to encourage officials to find solutions to problems and to improve the performance of their duties.

Asked what he would do with the results of an inspection, Mr Thongsy said these would be reported to the top officials in the organisation so they could find ways to resolve administration problems and strengthen the good points. In some cases, officials who failed to fulfill their assignments would be warned, and in serious cases would be fired.

He said that if the inspection uncovered evidence that officials were using their power for personal gain, or that their actions caused serious harm to the state, the authority could report the inspection results to the people's prosecutor and ask for a legal investigation at the people's court.

"We do not have the power to take officials we find guilty of wrongdoing to the court. This is the sole right and duty of the people's prosecutor, in protecting the interests of the nation," he said.

Mr Thongsy said the state inspection authority planed to carry out a great deal of work in the near future. This would include disseminating information about the law to every level of state administration bodies nationwide.

He said this would be very important, because it was the policy of the Party and the government to ensure that all officials and the public knew the law. He added that few people would be able to implement the law if they did not know its detail.

He added that his organisation was planning to intensify its work to ensure the effective and transparent performance of all government administrative bodies throughout the country. 

 Vientiane Times/Asian News Network