Decentralisation and deconcentration in Cambodia

Decentralisation and deconcentration in Cambodia: what's behind the D&D policy
By Corinne Callebaut and Duong Sokha

09-02-2009
Ka-Set



On May 17th this year, polls will be held in Cambodia on the basis of indirect suffrage for the election of councillors in the capital, provinces, municipalities, districts and sections [khans] in the whole Kingdom. These elections come as part of the decentralisation and deconcentration process – also known as D&D, according to the acronym used by the Cambodian political class – which the state has been trying to implement since 2001. The goal of this new policy is to delegate and, to a lesser extent, to transfer part of the decision-making power to localities at sub-national levels. For that process, several administrative reforms have been carried out and redistribute the roles of each of those divisions. To avoid losing the plot in front of this new concoction brought by the Organic Law on Administrative Management adopted in April 2008, here is a little explanation of the ins and outs of this reform and the D&D policy.


Concentration of power in a few hands at the top of the state: a tradition?
“As early as 1993, with the Constitution, the Cambodian government had planned an Organic Law on Administrative Management,” says Yiseang Chhiv, director of studies at the Royal School of Administration. However, eight years had to pass before the organisation of the first local elections, with the commune elections of February 3rd 2002. This represented a true revolution in a Kingdom concerned first and foremost – whether following its independence in 1953 or the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 – with ensuring its political stability and national unity, through centralisation of power. It was only after the country became peaceful and united again that it was possible to implement the decentralisation process – which consists of granting real decision-making power to sub-national entities and elected local representatives.


The challenge was daunting: it meant not only organising elections by universal direct suffrage in all Cambodian communes – that is, the very first local level – but also, and most importantly, provide the new local representatives with the necessary responsibilities and competencies for the design and implementation of local development projects. All the while, the whole process should not lose sight of its main concern: to respond to the needs and demands expressed by their fellow citizens.

The commune level, a first stage
The 2002 commune elections, and the following ones in 2007, result from a Law on the administration of communes and quarters [sangkats] adopted on February 1st 2001. It provides for the election of commune councils by universal direct suffrage for a five-year term. The councillors are in charge of designing, together with residents, development plans for their commune. They must identify the needs, assess the necessary budget and submit their plan to the government for approval. The government then allocates the budget specified in a state fund specially set up for this purpose, the Commune and Sangkat Funds (CS Funds). Since the enforcement of that reform, commune councils have been able to plan and manage themselves the construction of a road, the renovation of a school, the establishment of sanitation infrastructures. But this is only a first stage on the road to decentralisation, since locally-made decisions need to be approved by the central government before their implementation.


“It took a long time for this whole process to be enforced because Cambodians were not used to such functioning,” says Doctor Chan-Sangvar Theng, who leads the cabinet at the Ministry of Rural Development and is the author of a master's dissertation on decentralisation. “These new commune chiefs had to be explained everything, for example, what an invitation to tender is, or what a development plan is... It was very hard, since most barely knew how to write.”

2008, Cambodia's administrative makeover
Thus, it was only after seven years from the adoption of the law on communes that a new stage in the decentralisation process could be reached, with the promulgation in May 2008 of the Organic law on Administrative management of the capital, provinces, municipalities, districts and sections [khans].


First consequence of the implementation of this law: a new administrative map, intended to be more coherent.
Once considered as a “municipality”, Phnom Penh now has a status of its own as the capital city. The capital is divided into eight “sections” [khans], themselves divided, as it already used to be the case, into “quarters” [sangkats].


Kep, Pailin and Sihanoukville, formerly considered as “municipalities”, have been granted the status of “provinces”, and Sihanoukville was renamed “Preah Sihanouk” in the process. There are then 23 provinces in Cambodia, the highest sub-national level. They are divided into “districts” (in rural areas) and “municipalities” (in urban areas). Districts include “communes” while municipalities are subdivided into “quarters” [sangkats].

Applying the commune model to other levels
In parallel to new administrative map, the main novelty is the establishment for each administrative division – provinces/capital, districts/municipalities/sections [khans] and communes/quarters [sangkats] – of a council elected by indirect suffrage for a five-year mandate by the members of the already existing commune and quarter [sangkat] councils.


The council of the capital will comprise of a maximum of 21 members; in the provinces, councils will include between 9 and 21 members, depending on their demographic importance; municipal councils between 7 and 15 members; and districts and sections [khans], between 7 and 19 members.

Development policy and management of current affairs
These brand-new councils will be in charge of drafting and approving a five-year development plan to be updated every year, as well as an annual development programme. Their responsibilities may cover a range of different areas (education, health, economy, culture...) by taking into account – gradually and sector by sector – the capabilities and competencies that exist at each level. The new councils will also be empowered to issue by-laws (Deikas) concerning current affairs in their own division. However, these decisions can be declared as void at any time by the Ministry of Interior. If necessary, the latter is also entirely free to delegate its own power to councils.


Finally, councillors – who are urged to work in collaboration with citizens, councils of neighbouring divisions as well as those of inferior or superior levels, and authorities representing the government – will even be able to submit a proposition for the dismissal of a governor, although the ultimate decision regarding the matter will still pertain to the central executive power.


Resulting from the decentralisation* process, these councils might therefore serve as a counterweight for authorities coming from the deconcentration** process, i.e. governors of the capital, provinces, districts, municipalities and sections, who remain the local representatives of the central government. Governors respectively in charge of the capital and provinces will still be chosen by the prime Minister, in this case Hun Sen, whereas their deputies and governors of municipalities, districts and sections will be appointed by sub-decree upon suggestion from the Ministry of Interior. But they will no longer be the only actors in local divisions. Thus, as pointed out by Patrick Duong, coordinator of the local governance assistance project of the European Commission and UNDP, the councils and new institutions such as the National League of Communes/Sangkats (an association of local authorities), are not only called to play an increasingly important role in the design of decentralisation policies and programmes, but they will also be privileged observers of local governance and implementation of the sub-national programme for democratic development planned for the 2010-2020 decade.

Financial and political autonomy at issue
It remains unknown whether the 3,235 newly elected representatives will be provided with sufficient funds to fulfil their functions, since the establishment of local taxes is not effective yet. Indeed, in parallel to the decentralisation process and the progressive implementation of the administrative reform, the government will have to carry out another large project, the reform of public finances.


Between the state's contribution – through the Commune and Sangkat Funds (CS Funds) created in 2002 and which represents about 3% of the current national budget – and the amounts granted by donors, the budget which had until now been allocated to the country's administrative entities – and therefore mainly to commune councils – has gone from about 6 million dollars in 2002 to 21.75 million dollars in 2007, in other words slightly more than 1.5 dollar per year per capita, compared to 0.5 dollar in 2002.


Also, political opposition parties and election monitoring organisations such as COMFREL (Committee for Free and Fair Elections) decry the basis of indirect suffrage for the election of the new councils and are already questioning their independence from the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), to which not only governors are affiliated, but also more than 70% of the 11,453 commune councillors who will be called to cast their ballot in the May 17th indirect suffrage polls. The prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, has insisted on making a clarification even before the outcome of the elections, by reminding that whatever happens, the central executive power would have the last word and thus warning future councillors: “You are not independent!”

* Decentralisation: transfer of the administrative management of sub-national entities to elected local authorities, and not agents appointed by the central government.

** Deconcentration: delegation of power from the central government to its representatives. For example, provincial governors represent the state and depend on the government, which can withdraw their prerogatives at any time.


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A few dates about the decentralisation policy in Cambodia
- 21 September 1993: Promulgation of the Constitution of Cambodia. The Organic Law on Administrative Management appears in it.
- 18 January 2001: Adoption of the law on commune council elections.
- 1st February 2001: Adoption of the law on the administrative management of communes and quarters.
- 3 February 2002: First elections for commune and quarter councils.
- 1st April 2007: Second elections for commune and quarter councils.
- 1st April 2008: The National Assembly passes the Organic Law on the Administrative Management of the capital, provinces, municipalities, districts and sections. The law, among other things, provides for the establishment of councils elected for each of these administrative divisions.


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More than 10,000 police called to ensure security during the new council elections
More than 4 months prior to the elections of councils in the capital, provinces, municipalities, districts and sections of Cambodia, the Ministry of Interior has planned a string of security measures for these polls to be held in a “free, correct and fair” way.
In his ten-page plan made public on January 26th on the website of the National Election Committee (NEC), the Minister of Interior Sar Kheng asks the authorities to make sure that, from mid-January onwards:
- Political parties and their candidates are registered, electoral rolls with voter records and lists of the 193 polling stations are displayed publicly, local and international observers are registered, and the transportation of document and equipment is protected
- The election campaign, taking place from May 1st to May 15th, runs smoothly
- On polling day, ballots are counted and results displayed
- And, if results are not contested, which would result in the holding of new polls, official results are proclaimed and new council members take office.
The Minister also reminds that “particular protection” will be provided to all poll participants and that polling stations will be “closely watched at all times”.


In total, 13,277 police will deploy during the campaign and 13,856 on polling day and during the counting of votes.
“Any offence or crime will have to be investigated and the culprits brought to justice, so that citizens and political parties can have more trust in the police,” Sar Kheng, also deputy prime Minister, urged.