Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda has picked 28 new provincial governors to replace those who have reached retirement age.
The new governors, promoted from deputy governors and deputy department chief positions, will succeed their predecessors who retire in late September.
Prior to these changes next month, the minister has transferred and promoted provincial governors three times this year, a ministry source said, referring to the ministry’s yearly and special transfers.
Gen Anupong said on Friday he expects the final list of new governors to be completed and forwarded to His Majesty the King early next month.
The government wants the new governors to help low-income earners as part of its attempts to cope with the economic downturn, the minister said.
According to the source, some governors in the provinces "did not do enough" to maintain order when political movements held rallies, some of which ended up in violence during the red-shirt street protests in 2010 against the Abhisit Vejjajiva government. Gen Anupong was army commander in 2010.
When Gen Anupong was assigned interior minister under the military-led Prayut Chan-o-cha government, he made it a point to ensure those scenes of violence were a thing of the past, and he believes provincial governors should be free to act to turn his policies into practice, the source said.
The new 28 governors will be given full authority to control their provinces without the threat of outside influence from politicians. This will help them control political activities, which are not welcome by Gen Prayut, said the source.