Thread: Phuket officials ordered to stop using government vehicles for private use

PHUKET: Officials at every government office across the island have been ordered to not use government vehicles for private use, following an order from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The message was delivered loud and clear by Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong at a meeting of the Phuket subcommittee on the implementation of the National Strategy on Anti-Corruption at Phuket Provincial Hall on Monday (Mar 15).


V/Gov Piyapong explained that the Office of the Prime Minister had issued an “official notice asking for cooperation” from each government office in the country about the use of government vehicles.

The five-point notice, which asked officers to “strictly follow the rules”, first and foremost called for the chiefs of all government offices to “Control and check the usage of the government vehicles.”


“The cars must be used only for officials’ duties under the criteria set up by each office. Do not allow any officers to use the cars as their private car,” said the notice.


Any use of a government vehicle must be first approved in writing, and officers are to check when the vehicles were actually used and to closely monitor petrol receipts presented for reimbursement, the notice added.


“The head of each office must decisively punish the officers who are not in the position to have an official car, but use a government car as their private one,” the order mandated.


The notice also called out officials for taking government vehicles to “temporarily park elsewhere”.


“If there is not enough parking areas [at the government office] and the cars have to be temporarily parked elsewhere, the officers who are responsible for taking care of the cars must file an approval request explaining the necessity and the safety of the new place to park [the government vehicle],” the notice said.


The head of each government office is also to regularly check which officers are approved to use government vehicles, and to inform the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) in accordance with regulations, the notice added.


The ‘official notice’ was issued in order to prevent officers from using the cars as their private ones and submitting false petrol receipts, the notice concluded.


Phuket officials ordered to stop using government vehicles for private use

That's OK, they can use tuk tuks.






Oh.

Not bad practice to use official vehicles for official business only...But no need to be too strict about it, as sometimes it's more convenient to drive directly back home with the official car than going back to the office to switch cars.

But shouldn't this applies to all public bodies? Why do Army generals' houses get tended by conscripts or regular soldiers either free of charge or at a fraction of the real cost? Why public money is spent for them to enjoy good landscape privately?