New govt boosts pace of change

The House may increase the number of committees to cope with changes and is in the process of drafting new procedures to comply with the 2007 Constitution.

"The House committees are likely to rise from 31 to meet with increased issues," special committee spokesman Niphit Intarasombat said yesterday.

The special committee's job is to draft meeting procedures to pave the way for work to begin on legislation. It held its first meeting yesterday.

Democrat Niphit said the meeting elected Prasong Bunpong and Paijit Srivorakan as chairman and secretary respectively. Prasong and Paijit are both from the People Power Party. The meeting also agreed to summon two charter writers, Somkid Lertpaitoon and Atchaporn Charuchinda, to testify on February 12.

The two are expected to clarify the intentions behind the ban against MPs getting involved in government agencies and state enterprises.

Niphit said the committee wanted to know whether MPs could still query or debate on the performance of government agencies and state enterprises.

The other grey area is the extent of the ban against MPs holding political office, he said.

The special committee wanted a clarification whether the ban covered positions such as secretary to the minister and secretary-general to the prime minister, which were traditionally rewarded to MPs, he said.

People Power MP Chaowarin Latthasaksiri said he would propose to boost the number of House committees to 33.

There should be two new committees for Thais living overseas and for Buddhist affairs, he said.

Sathian Wiriyaphanpongsa

The Nation