It appears the government is keen to blame everyone else _ among them the Election Commission and the People's Democratic Reform Committee _ for its broken promises to pay the farmers for their harvests pledged with the government since October, the beginning of rice pledging scheme for the 2o13-14 second crops.
A farmer sits heavyhearted in her rice fields in Ayutthaya’s Bang Sai district. She is among the distraught farmers still waiting for payment from the government’s rice pledging scheme. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD
Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong led his economic ministers, including caretaker Commerce Minister Niwatthamrong Bunsongphaisan, in a press conference held at the Office of the Defence Permanent Secretary last Friday to inform the media about the government's plan to secure a 130-billion-baht loan for the Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) so it would have sufficient liquidity to pay farmers.
Mr Kittiratt, who is still remembered for the "white lie" he admitted to having made in August 2012 regarding the export growth rate, told the press that the government is not broke, as widely speculated, and has the money handy to pay the farmers, but it has yet to get approval from the Election Commission (EC) for the disbursement.
He said that permission is also needed from the EC if the government wants to sell rice from the stockpiles.
Caretaker Deputy Finance Minister Thanusak Lek-uthai has been assigned to explain to farmers that the government has not intentionally delayed the payments but has to comply with the law, Mr Kittiratt said, adding that delayed payments were caused by protests from the opposition Democrat Party as well as the blockade of the Finance Ministry and Budget Bureau by anti-government protesters.
Another lie from Mr Kittiratt _ and this time it is not a white lie.
The blockade of the Finance Ministry and the Budget Bureau took place in late November, but the payment default by the government dates back to October as many farmers complain they have not been paid since they pledged their crops at that time, instead being given the bai pratuan certificates to get their money from the BAAC.
The farmers also complained the delayed payments had forced them to turn to loan sharks which charged as much as 10% interest per month. Or, they have had to sell their bai pratuan certificates to the millers and get needed cash at a price far below the amount of money they were supposed to receive from the bank.
Election commissioner in charge of elections Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said Mr Kittiratt's remark regarding the EC was unfair. He said the government's payment default dates back to October. The EC received a request from the Finance Ministry on Jan 8 for it to rule on whether the government could secure the 130-billion-baht loan for the BAAC.
The EC will consider the Finance Ministry's request this week. Even if it endorses the loan, it remains doubtful the ministry will get the money fast enough to pay the farmers on Jan 25, as promised. Again, another promise is likely to be broken, which will certainly upset the dissenting farmers.
Earlier this month, rice expert Nipon Puapongsakorn of the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) wrote an open letter to the EC and the National Anti-Corruption Commission to point out that neither the caretaker government nor the Public Debt Management and Policy Committee has authority to seek additional loans beyond the 500-billion-baht ceiling endorsed by the cabinet on Oct 2, 2012, and on June 10, 2013.
The committee maintains that securing the loan is possible because it is part of the 270-billion-baht budget already approved by the cabinet to fund the rice pledging scheme for the 2013-14 harvests.
But Mr Nipon thinks otherwise. He said the cabinet had made two resolutions reaffirming the budget to fund the rice pledging scheme must be kept at the 500-billion-baht ceiling _ 410 billion baht derived from loans and 90 billion baht from the BAAC.
Mr Nipon warned the Finance Ministry as well as the government would risk breaking the law if it goes ahead with seeking the 130-billion-baht loan.
The EC, too, may be faulted for violating the law if it rubber-stamps the ministry's loan request. To sum up, there is little chance the government will get the money to pay the farmers this month or in the foreseeable future.
Mr Kittiratt's claim that the government is not broke and has the money ready at hand, provided the EC gives the nod, is pure fantasy. If the claim is true, why is the government continuing to squeeze the BAAC to advance some 50 billion baht of depositors' money to pay the farmers? Or why is it pressuring various state enterprises to shift their deposits from other banks to the BAAC so the bank can have enough cash flow for disbursement to the farmers?
Or why has the government turned to the Lottery Bureau for advance money? Pol Maj Gen Atthakrit Thareechat, director of the Lottery Bureau, has admitted the bureau has only about 8.7 billion baht in deposits and this amount cannot be lent to support the rice pledging scheme.
The government is desperate to find the money to pay the farmers to pre-empt mass protests and the possibility that many of them may join the protests in Bangkok. Sporadic protests took place in Phichit and Buri Ram provinces last week.
The TDRI estimates the government owes the farmers more than 100 billion baht in delayed payments.
With the Feb 2 election approaching _ and with no money to pay the farmers who form an important group of its voters and who may rise up en masse to demand their payments _ the government's prospects look bleak.
The government may lose the support of many farmers if the election is held as planned. But if it postpones the election, it will lose the chance to reclaim legitimacy and the public mandate that it badly needs to turn back the political tide and gain acceptance from the international community.
It is a Catch 22 situation for the government. And this does not include the possibility that caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra may face corruption charges for her role in the rice pledging scheme in which her two former ministers are already facing graft charges from the NACC.
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.