Politicians corrupt Women's Fund
Published: 4/08/2012 at 09:40 PMOnline news: Local News


Politicians have pushed their wives and relatives for the management of the government’s multi-billion-baht Thai Women's Empowerment Fund (TWEF), says Ladawan Wongsriwong, chairwoman of the Women's Voices Club.

Mrs Ladawan said the elections of district and provincial fund committee members had been held and the TWEF was now selecting candidates for 10-member committees to administer budgets in their own provinces.

Critics have alleged a lack of transparency and nepotism in the election of the fund representatives. Under the 7.7-billion-baht fund, one of the Pheu Thai Party's election campaign promises, each province will receive 100 million baht to spend on women's development.

Mrs Ladawan, a former executive of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, said she had received complaints from women leaders in some Northeastern provinces that politicians had heavily influenced the nomination and selection process from villages to provincial levels. The politicians wanted to have their proxies elected as fund management members.

Worse still, she said, the lists of candidates for specialised committees in several provinces in the Northeast showed that almost all were relatives of politicians and wives of provincial governors.

Some complainants also said local politicians abused their authority by coercing government officials, district chiefs and provincial governors to nominate their wives and relatives for the coming elections of provincial fund committee directors. Some said they also used money to buy votes, Mrs Ladawan added.

Mrs Ladawan called on all women who had been selected to fund committees, from village to provincial levels, to perform their duties honestly and impartially to ensure fair treatment for all women who had dedicated themselves to the development of society.

BANGKOK POST