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| Delay in Senior Allowance; Another Good Policy Poorly Implemented |
| UPDATE : 12 November 2009 |
Some local administrations have stopped paying since this past October, explaining that the Government's support from the first stimulus package has already run out. Some senior citizens have even reported that there's a 20 baht deduction from their allowance (for what?!). For a lot of folks, 20 baht might seem like a joke, but for an elderly with no income whose kids left them to care for themselves, it's a pretty big deal.
The elderly have been calling for help for many months now, but the problem has prolonged because there's yet to be any sort of leadership to steer it in the right direction. What it has turned out to be is a clear reflection on how poorly policies in this administration are implemented.
The 6-billion-baht contribution from the first stimulus package to the elderly allowance fund sure sounded like a great idea to please the elderly, but what good does all that money do if they never reach the hands of the elderly?
There are a few aspects of policy implementation that the Government still needs to consider. First is the lack efficiency and proper progress monitoring. Our tax money is often spent without proper progress tracking to see if the money was properly spent or if the spending did any good. However, the second stimulus package deserves a round of applause as Panas Simasatien is assigned to head a committee which will monitor how it's spent and its effectiveness.
Secondly, there is still confusion about which protocol to follow in terms on disbursing allowance to the elderly. Officials are lost on the protocol to follow, whether it should be the old protocol of the Interior Ministry from 2005 or a new one issued by the National Elderly Association from 2009.
In addition, there is also a policy that allows the local administration to distribute even more funds to the elderly. An example was in Phuket where the local administration had to determine which policy each elderly would be subjected to according to their residential registration. Obviously, this has caused a lot of confusion for the locals and the authorities.
Another reason the funds haven't been disbursed is because of the painstakingly slow civil servant system. A source from the Local Administration Department that the Comptroller General's Department just allocated the funds last week, even though the policies were supposed to be implemented a long time ago.
The Comptroller General's Department has clarified that the implementation fell right in the period of change from the 2008 to 2009 budget, which required the drafting of a new spending protocol. Hence, budget allocation was delayed. However, the Department says that the payments will start this month, and the elderly will receive all of the overdue allowance.
There's even rumors that some local administrations in Kalasin province have paid the elderly on their own funds to keep them quiet. They pay their overdue allowance as well as the upcoming months. The local admins want to keep their voters and the Government is making it very expensive.
Bangkok senator Rosana Tositrakul expressed her concerns about the possibility that the Local Administration Department is withholding monthly allowance on purpose, so they can build up funds. Thereafter, the local admin may claim to pay a large sum after some time, but instead many end up not paying the elderly. Rosana's other concern is fraud, whereby a person illegitamately claims the right of an elderly eligible to receive the allowance.
There have also been talks about giving money only to those who need it. There are approximately 7 million elders eligible to receive the allowance, but a mere 10% or 700,000 are considered in need of such allowance. This would make much better use of the 3.5 billion baht per month budget.
The Government's apparent failure to effectively implement policies is hurting them big time, especially when they're probably living a very short lifespan. And, it's hard to say that as the economy picks up in the last quarter of this year, that it has anything to do with the heavily defended first stimulus package since the money ain't in the hands to spend.
from Post Today Newspaper; Wednesday November 11th, 2009 edition
by Post Today's Finance Team
Rewritten by Patcharapol Jitramontree
patcharapol@tannetwork.tv
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