People line up for immigration services at the Poipet International Border Checkpoint in 2023. FN
In a move to root out corruption, the Ministry of Interior has issued a prakas on the terms for police chiefs and deputy chiefs, as well as the number of deputies to be placed at international checkpoints and police stations.
The directive was warmly welcomed by civil society.
The prakas, issued by interior minister Sar Sokha on December 29 and made public on January 4, stipulated that police chiefs and deputy police chiefs at border checkpoints may serve for a term of four years.
At the end of their tenure, they must be appointed to a new position or transfer to the same role at a different facility, effectively changing locations.
The prakas outlined that each International Border Checkpoint Police Station and International Checkpoint is headed by one police chief and several deputy chiefs as assistants, varying according to location.
It stated that the Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH) crossing has one police chief and 15 deputy chiefs, Kang Keng Airport (KOS) has one police chief and 12 deputy chiefs and the Poipet checkpoint has one police chief and 24 deputy chiefs.
It added that should these positions become vacant due to retirement, transfer or other reasons, they will not be refilled and will remain vacant until the number falls below the stipulated limit.
Pech Pisey, executive director of Transparency International (TI) Cambodia, highlighted the importance of the limitation, stating that strengthening the effectiveness of international border checkpoints is vital to ensure national security, order, entry and exit and cross-border transportation.
He said this requires clean, strict and non-corrupt performance by law enforcement officers at the borders.
“For me, the new move is beneficial; changing the location of management to other offices and setting the mandate on length-of-service allows us to tackle partisanship and prevent various risks,” he said.
However, he also expressed concern that the number of deputy border police chiefs was excessive.
He suggested reducing it to four to five at each checkpoint, to have a clear division of roles and responsibilities and to avoid bureaucracy.
Yang Kim Eng, president of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace, supported the mechanism for determining the mandate of border officials and their relocation to prevent corruption.
He concurred with Pisey’s concerns regarding the excessive number of deputy chiefs and calls for a limitation on their number, advocating instead for a larger contingent of technical officers to enhance work efficiency.
“At our border crossings, corruption negatively impacts operations, particularly through the solicitation of informal payments. The ministry should address this issue by establishing an effective monitoring system to ensure that police officials comply with the law,” he said.
