Phnom Penh (FN), Mar. 18 – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet directed relevant ministries and institutions at both the national and sub-national levels to implement the principle of “selecting the right, filling the right, maintaining the right” in the recruitment of officials to optimise budget spending on personnel and enhance the management of local officials.
The premier spoke on Tuesday (Mar. 18) during the Royal Government and Sub-national Administrations forum.
Following the personnel requirement plan, Samdech Thipadei instructed the Ministry of Civil Service, the Ministry of Interior, and other relevant ministries and institutions to develop principles and procedures to implement the following measures:
Measure 1: Explore policies to encourage and create voluntary opportunities for the transfer of professional staff from departments, ministries, and institutions to serve in municipal and district administrations, transitioning from the national to sub-national levels where applicable.
Measure 2: Provide guidelines to support city and district administrations in recruiting personnel to fill necessary professional positions based on agreements. This process should adhere to the principles of democracy, transparency, justice, and the concept of selecting the right individuals, placing them appropriately, and maintaining them.
On the occasion, Samdech Thipadei underlined that recruiting officials according to this principle aims to effectively manage personnel costs and ensure proper administration at the local level.
Samdech Thipadei underscored, “If we spend more on personnel costs, it means there is less money for other investments. Therefore, recruitment management must achieve two key objectives:
1. Work efficiency, which requires accountability, transparency, and the right to work.
2. Effective personnel management, balancing the quantity and quality of officials. We need to ensure there are enough qualified officials to work efficiently. If we have too many, the budget must be spread thinly. However, if we have a sufficient number of capable officials relative to the workload, we can allocate the budget to strengthen existing officials while having funds left for general investment.
This is the focus of our administrative and public service reform during this mandate—to reassess, review, and analyse functions to help ministries, national institutions, and sub-national administrations progress. We are committed to this approach.”
At the same time, the premier instructed that the selection of contracted officers should follow clear regulations and be properly supervised to ensure that the right individuals are chosen. There should also be guidelines for training and assigning tasks to suitable candidates.
When transferring employees within sub-national administrations, clear responsibilities and effective management must be maintained, particularly in critical sectors including health (doctors) and education (teachers). The focus should be on filling gaps in needed positions rather than creating surplus roles.
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