A new bill aimed at facilitating licensing and setting standards for government services is in progress and will be an innovative tool to curb bribery and graft in the public sector, according to Wissanu Krea-ngam, the prime minister’s legal adviser.
Delivering a special lecture on the prevention of corruption in the public sector in the era of digital disruption, Mr Wissanu said the bill is an upgraded version of the 2015 Licensing Facilitation Act (LFA), which deals only with the licence application and granting process.
Under the new bill that is being examined by the Council of State, the application process for public utilities such as electricity or water services will also be included. State agencies will be required to produce and update manuals detailing the documentation required for each government service, fees and how long a request will take to be approved.
A one-stop service will also be created to ensure convenience, while authorities who fail to comply with the requirements could face disciplinary actions.
Mr Wissanu said that the bill is likely to be submitted to the House of Representatives early next year.
“If the House passes the bill as it is, people won’t need to stop by district offices in most cases,” he said. “They can make requests via an electronic system, which eliminates the chance of them being asked for bribes. And they can file complaints if their requests take longer than expected to be processed.”
According to Mr Wissanu, the original LFA was drafted more than two decades ago but could not be submitted to the House due to objections from various ministries.
“They made some good arguments, such as it added costs and it couldn’t prevent bribery. The bill was shelved for 10 years until the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) came along,” he said, referring to the administration set up after the 2014 military coup.
The LFA turned out to be the first to be scrutinised by the National Legislative Assembly, the appointed body set up by the NCPO. “In a normal situation, this type of law would not see the light of the day,” Mr Wissanu said.
He said the LFA is designed to help bring more transparency to the licence application and granting process. However, public awareness of its existence is low and it has not lived up to its potential.
According to Mr Wissanu, the cabinet this week also approved a proposed amendment to the anti-graft law aimed at better protecting witnesses and countering what is known as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (Slapp), designed to intimidate and silence critics.
The amendment will be examined by the Council of State before it is submitted to the House, tentatively later this year.
Addressing the same forum, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said a change of mindset among state officials and senior executives in both the public and private sectors is necessary to tackle corruption.
