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Government defends Cabinet shake-up
Thailand's government defended its major Cabinet shake-up yesterday, saying it had a popular public mandate to tackle slowing economic growth and unify the fractured country.
- AP
- Published: 23:35 August 3, 2008
Bangkok, Thailand: Thailand's government defended its major Cabinet shake-up yesterday, saying it had a popular public mandate to tackle slowing economic growth and unify the fractured country.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej reshuffled his Cabinet on Saturday in what many observers saw as an effort to mollify critics of his six-month old government, which came to power in elections to restore democracy following a military coup.
The moves came after months of protests by thousands of opponents who have called for Samak's resignation, accusing him of attempting to block corruption charges against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and trying to amend the constitution to cling to power.
Corruption cases
Thaksin and his family face a number of corruption cases, the first which was decided Thursday when a court found Thaksin's wife guilty of evading millions of dollars in taxes and sentenced her to three years in prison.
Four other corruption cases have been filed in the courts against Thaksin, two others against his wife, and three against two of his children. Many others are under investigation.
Critics of the 72-year-old Samak, a combative former governor of Bangkok, also said he has failed to move on promises to expand programmes first started by Thaksin to forgive loans to farmers and expand cheap health care to the poor.
Samak's government also faces economic pressures, with inflation at a 10-year high of 9.2 per cent due to rising food and fuel costs.
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