Myanmar's cabinet undergoes strategic reshuffle

The latest cabinet reshuffle was about putting “the right people in the right place”, improving policy implementation and supporting U Thein Sein’s clean government push, officials say.
Four ministers were rotated while six new deputy ministers were appointed, the government announced through state-run television on the evening of July 25.


A senior official in the President’s Office, who asked not to be named,described the change as a “positive development”aimed at ensuring“good and clean” government.

The reshuffle of ministers and deputy ministers was decided based on a scoring system that took into account their transparency, the opinion of their staff, the extent to which they had been able to implement government policy.

Presidential spokesman U Ye Htut said reshuffling the government was normal in a democracy and was ordered because of policy changes and reforms in the relevant ministries.

“Government policies will be implemented more effectively because of this change,” he said.

Staff within the ministries only learned about the change from state media. Daw Moh Moh Thwin, an assistant director in the Department of Labour, said on July 26 that she and her colleagues had been surprised when they saw the announcement on state television that Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security U Maung Myint had been transferred to the Ministry of Industry.

“I thought [the former union minister] was doing his best,” she said.

She said she was unsure whether the change was good or bad because she knows nothing about the new minister. “We’ve never seen him before. We even don’t know if he is black or white,” she said.

Daw Moh Moh Thwin said she was not in a position to criticise the decision as staff within the ministries are bound to follow the government’s decision. “We are not in position to think about [whether it’s good or bad]. We don’t need to,” she said.

The government’s announcement also said Deputy Minister for Education U Aye Kyu and Deputy Minister for Rail Transportation Thura U Thaung Lwin had been “allowed to resign of their own volition”.

Thura U Thaung Lwin’s position as chairman of the Dawei project's management committee appears to be unchanged by the reshuffle.

An official from the Ministry of Education said he also learned the news from state media. “The new deputy minister hasn’t arrived in the office yet. We don’t know whether he is good or bad. I just know that the former [deputy minister] is leaving because he is ill,” he said.

The announcement brought a lukewarm response. U Ko Ko Hlaing, a political adviser to President U Thein Sein, did not back the decision. “I also want to know whether this is good or bad,” he said.

Daily Eleven, which is generally critical of the government, reported that those close to the President’s Office had received the best positions. It reported that U Zeya Aung, the former railways minister who will become the new minister for energy, is the brother-in-law of U Ye Htut, the president’s spokesperson. It also said that because the Ministry of Energy deals with many international companies the position presents “good business opportunities” for the new minister.

“Analysts say this change is nothing special for a government that is regularly criticised for its corruption,” Daily Eleven reported, without naming any analysts.

On July 17 – barely a week before the reshuffle – U Zeya Aung had overseen the signing of a major agreement between state-run Myanma Railways and China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) to construction two manufacturing plants in Myanmar. One will produce locomotives, while the other will produce passenger carriages.

source: The Myanmar Times
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/7585-myanmar-s-cabinet-undergoes-strategic-reshuffle.html