Prime Minister Hun Manet has explained that it is necessary to promote the Minister of Civil Service to the position of Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), in order to give its leader the influence required to implement reforms in other ministries and institutions.

Manet made the remarks while presiding over a February 22 award ceremony for model public units in the educational and health sectors.

His comments were in response to unnamed opposition groups who criticised the promotion of civil minister Hun Many, his younger brother, to DPM.

Many was appointed as the Kingdom’s 11th deputy prime minister via a Royal Decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni on February 21. The decree followed a unanimous vote by 120 members of the National Assembly (NA) at an extraordinary session of the seventh legislature. 

“The civil service minister has to be promoted, no matter whether it is Many or somebody else. Why? Because the ministry leader is responsible for implementing reforms across all government institutions,” said Manet.

“If the [civil service ministry] carries very little weight, how can it instruct other ministries to implement reforms? Or do you expect me to do all the work by myself? The appointment is crucial to meet the needs of all ministries and institutions. It doesn’t matter that the minister has the same surname as I do – we have prioritised the need for reform, so we need to increase the minister’s authority,” he added.

He emphasised that to protect the interests of the nation, the public service is badly in need of reforms. The civil service ministry is in charge of some of the most challenging tasks, making widespread reforms at the national and sub-national levels. 

The premier explained that implementing the reforms requires a large amount of work, including the establishment of a national commission specifically for the education, health and public service sectors.

The newly-appointed deputy prime minister will head the commission, with Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron and Minister of Health Chheang Ra serving as his deputies.

Many thanked Manet for placing his trust in him, as well as to the NA members who passed a unanimous vote of confidence in him.

“It is true that this role is an honour, but it also means higher levels of responsibility. With the faith and trust you have placed in me, I vow to serve the nation with all my heart. I will focus my strength on performing the duties entrusted to me as efficiently as possible,” he said.

Pa Chanroeun, president of the Cambodian Institute for Democracy, echoed Manet’s remarks, saying that to lead public administrative reforms, the minister is required to have sufficient authority and influence.

He noted that given the political situation in the Cambodia government, criticism of the promotion of the prime minister’s brother was inevitable.

“Let’s wait and see how efficient the public reform processes are,” he said.

Chanroeun suggested that in response to the criticisms, the new deputy prime minster must show sufficient initiative in his work to justify his appointment.

Government spokesman Pen Bona explained that Manet has established that reforms and governance tasks are at the core of his Pentagonal Strategy, which aims to support the vision of Cambodia achieving high-income status by 2050.

“We have laid out every step we need to take to achieve the 2050 goal. We have slightly more than 25 years to accomplish it. This is not so long, so we need to accelerate the reforms,” he added.