Funcinpec has promised its ousted governors and deputy governors new positions within the Ministry of Interior in a bid to placate unseated royalist officials who are demanding the removal of the party’s secretary-general, a party official said Monday.
Noranarith Anandayath, Cabinet chief to Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh, said the party will offer new general staff jobs in the ministry to 19 former provincial governors and deputy governors—though several say they will refuse.
“They are government civil servants, so we will offer them positions at the Ministry of Interior,” Noranarith Anandayath said. “We have a lot of positions to offer.”
Since Funcinpec shuffled its provincial and municipal officials earlier this month, the party has been divided with unseated members charging corruption among the party leaders.
Those left without jobs have blamed their dismissals on Secretary-General Prince Norodom Sirivudh, who is also co-Minister of Interior, and have demanded that he be fired.
Calls to Prince Sirivudh were unsuccessful Monday. Prince Ranariddh, who is in Paris teaching political science to French students, will travel to Pakistan to attend an Asean conference later this month before returning to Cambodia in December, Noranarith Anandayath said.
Former Battambang provincial deputy governor Prack Doeun on Monday rejected Funcinpec’s offer of new ministry positions.
Likening a general staff position in the Interior Ministry to having no job at all, Prack Doeun said: “If the party moves us to the Ministry of Interior, it is the same as stopping us from having a position.”
He added: “I would abandon my position because with a small salary, I cannot survive in Phnom Penh.”
Former Kandal provincial governor Tep Nannory agreed. “There is no work to do at the Ministry of Interior,” he said.
Former Kompong Speu governor Ou Bun said he would accept a ministry job, but said he wanted Prince Sirivudh removed anyway.
“They regard me as zero,” Ou Bun said Monday, speaking of his party. “The replacement [of governor positions] is very unjust for me.”
