For the first time since Myanmar’s independence, the country will see its military government hand over its responsibilities to a civilian government.
To ensure a smooth transfer of power, members of the outgoing military government and the National League for Democracy (NLD) have formed a joint eight-member transition committee.
One of the committee’s members is Win Htein, a close aide of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. His said the team will scrutinise all official documents and spending, starting from the President and Vice-Presidents’ offices.
“When we look at the budget, we have to see how much, how many projects they have intended for the next year, whether these projects are feasible or not; it’s our responsibility now,” said Win Htein.
Understanding how every ministry works thoroughly will also be crucial to enabling the new administration to decide how to make the government leaner and more effective.
“After knowing (this) information, we check with each and every ministry, and when we choose the cabinet, we will relay (this) information to the future minister-to-be, so they can work (it) out,” said Win Htein.
Helping the incoming administration work out some of the logistical and administrative queries will be five members from the current team. One of them is Information Minister and Presidential spokesman, Ye Htut.
He said: “The mission for the transition committee is to set (a) good process for the transfer of the responsibility from this President to the next elected President. This is our main issue.
“The second (issue) is that we have to prepare for some briefing session by the current ministry to the NLD members. So for example if they want to know about this particular ministry, we will send the permanent secretary to brief them. The third is we have to coordinate on the many issues which will preserve the political stability before the transfer of the state responsibility.”
The NLD, however, has some very real concerns about the level of cooperation it can actually expect to receive.
“Many people are good. But politically, they’re not dependable, that’s what we’re afraid of,” said Win Htein. “But I have a very good relationship with Hla Tun, the incumbent Minister of the President’s Office, as well as Ye Htut. I think they will not make any mischief and their data is quite transparent.”
The current Parliament term ends on Jan 30, giving the transition team very little time to collate the data, with the committee hoping to wrap up its work within one month.
Source: CNA
