Gov’t to increase bonus salary for high ranking army and police officers

5-golden-star general Hun Xen and top army brass (Photo: Khmer Sovannara, DAP)

21 April 2010
By Meas Mony
Free Press Magazine online
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

It has been turned into a bad joke when nonstop waves of demonstration of low ranking civil servants are demanding for a raise of their bonuses so that they can live a decent life, but quite to the contrary, the government instead decided to hand out bonuses only to a handful of high-ranking army and police officers.

Based on a sub-decree promoted by Keat Chhon, the minister of Finance, and approved by Hun Xen on 15 March 2010, bonuses will be doled out to army and police officers ranking between levels no. 1 and 50 only, the bonus amount is 50% [of their salary(?)].

Under this unfair distribution of social rewards, MP Yim Sovann, the SRP spokesman, declared that the government should think about soldiers and police officers stationed all along the country who have to face severe living and health conditions. Due to their low salaries, these lower-ranking soldiers and police officers could not send their children to school.

Currently, the salary for regular civil servants amounts to more than 100,000 riels (about $30). However, for those who hold the position of department chief and up, their salaries start at 1 million riels ($250), they also receive additional gasoline and telephone stipends.

Hun Sen: government spent too much on civil servants' salary

Thursday, March 18, 2010
By Khmerization
Source: RFA

Prime Minister Hun Sen is unhappy that his government spent too much money on paying the salary of civil servants, reports Radio Free Asia.

Speaking on 17th March in a meeting to hear the reports about the government's 2009 achievements, Mr. Hun Sen has ordered all ministries to stop recruiting more staff in an attempt to save money. He said only teachers and medical staff are allowed to be recruited. "Only teachers and medical staff are allowed to be recruited. In other institutions, if they have 100 staff and if 30 staff retired, 70 are kept and they won't be allowed to recruit any more staff because past expenditures have exceeded our micro-budget", he said.

Mr. Hun Sen also said in the past, expenditures on civil servants' perks such as free petrol, phone bills, allowances, accommodation, food and travelling expenses on overseas missions have exceeded the micro-budget. He said from now on, if necessary, ambassadors and diplomats in Cambodia's overseas missions will attend the conferences and meetings in the countries they are based in instead of sending officials from Cambodia in order to save the money.

According to government figures, expenditures on civil servants' perks is equivalent to 4.4% of Cambodia's Growth Domestic Product (GDP), which is considered too high for any country.

Mr. Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said there are corruption involving in applying for allowances and perks from many government officials. "They inflate the invoices. They only received one invoice, but they presented two invoices (for reimbursements) and sometimes they inflated the invoices three times higher than the real charges in the invoices because they connived with the service providers and vendors. This has caused the government to lose a lot of money because there is no control put in place. This is only the tip of the iceberg and this is not a new issue, it is an old issue, so it is good that (Mr. Hun Sen) has raised the issue. So, we want to see his words become a reality and we wish that these words are transormed into concrete measures in order to tackle unnecessary expenditures and to save our National Budget because all these money are coming from the sweat and blood of our citizens", he said.

The opposition parties have in the past accused the government of unnecessarily recruiting hundreds of civil servants every year but it has never made the figures public. Mr. Yim Sovann also appeal to the government to punish those officials who inflate the invoices in the past.

Govt ends civil salary incentives

Wednesday, 23 December 2009
James O'toole and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

NGOs concerned about impact

THE government has terminated salary supplement programmes for civil servants, sparking concerns that public services, particularly for poor Cambodians, will suffer in the face of inadequate compensation for government employees.

Under such salary supplement programmes, development organisations had been bolstering salaries for civil servants in a range of sectors over the past several years.

“The termination of the … incentive schemes will apply to all cases across the complete portfolio of projects and programmes irrespective of the funding sources,” Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon wrote in a letter dated December 4 and obtained by the Post Tuesday. “It is, therefore, applicable to all donor-assisted as well as [government-] funded projects and programmes.”

In justifying the decision, Keat Chhon explained that the government was concerned that the salary-supplement schemes could be an obstacle to wider civil-service reforms necessitated by the global financial crisis. The minister added that incentive-based pay schemes could be perceived as unfair.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith echoed these concerns Tuesday, saying that salary supplements that are not uniformly distributed “cause bad feelings in the workplace and lead to declines in productivity”.

Chan Theary, executive director of the Reproductive and Child Health Alliance, said the implications of the government’s decision were not yet clear, and that she worried about the potential consequences for the health sector.

“It seems like if this happens, the implementation at the grassroots level will be destroyed,” she said.

Niklas Danielsson, a child- and adolescent-health specialist at the World Health Organisation, said employees at health centres, which treat large numbers of poor Cambodians, already earn low salaries and could suffer from the policy change.

“We are concerned about the potential implications if salary supplements are removed, particularly in service delivery at the health centre level,” he said.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) spokesman Chantha Kim said civil service reform and a review of the government’s compensation system could greatly benefit the Kingdom. He cautioned, however, that a simple reduction in salaries could do more harm than good.

“ADB … shares concerns with other development partners about the possible negative impact the cancellation of salary supplements might have on the delivery of some essential social services, especially to the poor,” he said.

The ADB and other development organisations, Chantha Kim added, have requested a meeting with the government “to discuss measures to mitigate the negative impacts on social-service delivery”.

A World Bank document from 2006 that appraised a project including pay incentives for government employees, stressed the importance of civil service wages in promoting development and good governance.

“Perhaps the principal risk to the [National Strategic Development Plan] is the capacity of the civil service to deliver. Moreover, it is clear that low public sector wages provide a breeding ground for corrupt practices,” the document said. “At the same time it is apparent that low pay is a leading cause of Cambodia’s relatively poor standing on public sector performance.”

The value of the pay incentives proposed in the document was US$7.8 million, though figures were not available on Tuesday for the overall value of the salary programmes terminated by the government this month.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, said the government’s decision to end salary supplements can only be effective if it is accompanied by wider reforms.

“There have been many complaints by civil servants alleging that partisanship and corruption in government have reduced transparency and directed funding to the wrong recipients,” he said.

Officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance declined to comment Tuesday.

Cambodian PM: 20% Salary Increase from January Onwards

Phnom Penh, January 8, 2009
AKP

Cambodian Civil servants, soldiers and police will receive a 20% increase in salary to become effective from January onwards, said Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen.

The Cambodian premier said this, while presiding over an inauguration of a bridge for an official use in Khan Mean Chey district, Phnom Penh, on January 6, a day before the day to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, which was celebrated in a mass meeting at Olympic Stadium here yesterday.

In his remarks, the premier gave an example of the increase, pointing that if those who received a monthly salary of 40,000 riel will get 48,000 riel per calendar month for the pay rise.

He continued saying that for soldiers and police, their monthly salary will go up more due to a 20% increase along with their net salary and a pay raise based on the echelons and duties.

The royal government decided to increase a salary of 20% p.a. for the civil servants according to the economic growth in the country.

Officials earning 400,000 riels ($100) and up can cash their salary by bank

Saturday, June 23, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Chou Kim Leng, deputy director of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said that from now on, government civil servants earning a salary of 400,000 riels (~$100) and up can cash their salary by bank. In a seminar about the plan for paying salaries to government civil servants on 22 June in Phnom Penh, Chou Kim Leng said that the salary payment through a bank is the second step taken by his ministry, after a first trial period starting since May 2006 when two ministries allowed civil servants earning more than 400,000 riels to cash their salary by bank. The banking company selected to make payment for government officials is the ANZ bank [partly owned by Kith Meng, a crony of Hun Sen]. Chou Kim Leng said that salary payment by bank is easier, more efficient, and more transparent, and in its second step, the government decided to adopt this payment scheme for more than 25 institutions in Phnom Penh city, as well as for institutions in Siem Reap province and Sihanoukville city.

Hun Sen’s election year’s carrot

Sunday, May 13, 2007
20% pay raise starting next year

By Duong sokha
Cambodge Soir
Unofficial Translation from French by Tola Ek

Click here to read Cambodge Soir’s original article in French

Starting from 01 January 2008, the salaries of civil servants will increase by 20% each year, rather than the current 15%. The government explains this measure by the strong economic growth the country saw.

Starting from 01 January 2008, the salaries of civil servants will be re-evaluated to 20% increase per year, rather than the current 15% increase as planned in the government platform. This measure will affect 160,000 civil servants, as well as 160,000 soldiers and police officers in the kingdom. Furthermore, starting from the 2nd semester of this year, soldiers and police officers in the country will benefit from a 25% increase, this in addition to the 15% they also received at the beginning of the year. This exceptional pay raise will be also affect retired civil servants and former soldiers.

Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman, explained the 20% pay raise by the economic situation of the country. “We fixed the pay raise to 15% because we estimated our growth to be about 6%. Now, it so happens that we have a double digit growth,” he explained. Last year, the kingdom saw a growth rate of 10.5%, slightly lower than the 13.4% growth rate in 2005. “From now until 2013, we plan to bring the base salary of civil servants to $60 per month,” Khieu Kanharith added. Currently, the base salary is at about $25 per month.

Rong Chhun, President of the Cambodia Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA) is happy to see this raise, however, he is not fooled by the carrot handed over by the government and the expectations it wants to get back at next year’s general election. “This raise is good news, but it is still too little. It will not allow any improvement in the living conditions of civil servants, it only allows the adjustment of salaries to price increase. The government must attack the problems of inflation and corruption. The government increases the salaries in view of the upcoming election. It is already chasing after the votes,” he said.

Rong Chhun’s criticism was rejected by Khieu Kanharith who recalled that the 15% pay raise was in effect for several years already as it is part of the government platform which was established after the last general election.

SRP: $100 Monthly Wage for Public Servants is Achievable

March 1, 2007

$100 Monthly Wage for Public Servants is Achievable

Quite contrary to the unfortunate comments of Prime Minister Hun Sen, achieving a monthly wage of US$100 for every Cambodian civil servant is a perfectly realistic goal. To declare otherwise is to perpetuate a lie that perpetuates mass poverty.

The solution lies in strengthening the receipt of government revenues through formal government channels, rather than in allowing money to exchange hands informally “to grease the wheels” of public/private partnerships.

We encourage interested parties to review the 2006 report by the Economic Institute of Cambodia titled “Assessment of Corruption in Cambodia’s Private Sector.” The study estimates that US$330 million is paid annually by the private sector in unofficial transactions. This amount is nearly 50% of the government’s annual revenue. “Only about 25 percent of the potential tax was collected from the private sector in 2005, which means that the Government might lose about 75 percent of its potential income” (p. 22).

The serious problem of low wages for Cambodia’s 300,000 public servants, therefore, has a relatively straightforward answer. Every one of our teachers, nurses, policeman, soldiers, and so on could make over $100 per month if the government would stop the flow of money through unofficial bribes and direct it instead into a stream of formal taxation.

If given the chance to govern the Kingdom of Cambodia, this effort would be the first priority of the Sam Rainsy Party.

SRP Members of Parliament

For more information, contact: 012 858 857