Pasalao

Slow salary payments top parliament hotline complaints

The slow payment of state employee salaries has been the most common issue raised on the National Assembly hotline, along with rising living costs, with people calling for the government to find ways to solve the issue.

As of December 24, the NA has received 555 telephone calls since the hotline was opened on December 9 – the day the parliament opened its ongoing ordinary session.

The 555 calls saw some 126 issues raised but the slow payment of state salaries was by far the most common issue raised, according to information from the NA's body in charge of hotline affairs.

It has been previously reported that state officials in some sectors have not received their monthly salary for several months now, which is causing consternation.

The slow payments have occurred after Laos has faced recent budget tensions. These tensions were heavily influenced by the huge increase in salary and supporting allowances last fiscal year.

Salary increases resulted in a more than 100 percent rise in state spending on salaries and supporting allowances compared to the year before. It had been budgeted for but unfortunately revenue collection failed to meet the targets set.

Such budget tensions have forced the government to tighten its expenditure including suspending the payment of the monthly supporting allowance of 760,000 kip for living costs, electricity and clothing which was previously granted to each official. The government has pledged it will strive to ensure the regular payment of officials' salaries from January onwards, to maintain the morale of employees.

According to the NA's Petition and Naturalisation Department in charge of the hotline affairs, the third most raised issue is the need to manage prices, which is of course related to the salary cuts and also rising living costs.

Director General of the department Mr Khamsing Xaysompheng stated that the callers have complained that while the supporting allowance was cut, living costs on the other hand are increasing, with complainants calling for the government to manage prices.

Specifically, the high price of electricity despite hydropower development ranked fourth among the issues raised by public through the NA, according to the department.

H ead of the NA's Administrative Office, Dr Ounkeo Wuthilath said the parliament compiles all the issues the public raise through the hotline and submits them to the government seeking explanati ons from the relevant sectors.

Many sectors have provided explanations to the NA in order to explain to the public the factors influencing the issues they raised through the hotline during the last ordinary session held in July.

On the other hand, many sectors have kept silent and provide no explanations to the issues the public have enquired about.

Each NA committee is responsible for following up whether the relevant government sector provides an explanation to the hotline issues that involve each committee's scope of work .

However the NA is also in the process of forming a centralised body to follow up on the issues raised, according to Mr Khamsing.