Existing layers of the sub-national administration

The D&D legal framework

Law on Commune and Sangkat Administrative Management - March 2001

This law recognized Communes and Sangkat as legal entities with legislative and executive powers, derived from elections. Legislative powers are exercised by resolutions of council. All Communes and Sangkat have councils elected by a system of proportional representation for a five-year term. Councils have a chair and five to eleven members.

A Ministry of Interior (MoI) official is appointed as clerk to support administration, and councils may also employ their own staff. Councils have a role in supervising villages. Village functions relate to security, public order, and socioeconomic development. The Village administration has been completed in December 2012 (inter-ministerial declaration) by the establishment of Village Development Committee (VDC). VDC is composed of Chairman (the Village Chief), Deputy Chairman, Secretary, and 4 to 6 people as members with 40 to 50 percent of women.

The Commune Council focusses on supporting national policies, representing the state, and addressing basic local needs, including in the area of social and economic development. The MoI is given the power to monitor, supervise, and intervene, when necessary, to address illegalities and to temporarily take over the duties of the councils, dissolve them, and call for new elections.

Annual council development plans, investment plans, and budgets are to be provided. The annual budget must be balanced, and all plans are approved and managed by the council.

Councils have the authority to collect tax and nontax revenues, including land taxes, immovable property taxes, and rental taxes. The central government transfers funds which encompass tax and nontax sharing, grants, transfers, and agency fees.

To download the Law on Commune and Sangkat management (2001) - unofficial translation, click here

Organic Law on Administrative Management of Capital, Provinces, Municipalities, Districts and Khans – April 2008

All defined subnational administrations are legal entities and have a legally elected Council. Entities promote democracy through public representation, local autonomy, citizen consultation and participation, responsiveness and accountability, promotion of quality of life, equity, integrity and transparency, and anticorruption practices.

Councils, indirectly elected by Commune Councillors for five years, are central to the effective implementation of D&D reforms. They are required to develop a five-year development plan and a three-year investment plan in line with prescribed criteria. Budgeting and public financial management are to focus on priorities such as infrastructure and poverty reduction. Plans and budgets are submitted to annual monitoring and evaluation of performance.

Councils must establish committees of (i) technical facilitation (with governor as chair, all council unit chiefs, chief of finance, local heads of all central government ministries, and others), (ii) women’s and children’s affairs (CWCC), and (iii) procurement. Additional committees may be set up. The technical facilitation committee coordinates national and local efforts through plans, the medium-term expenditure framework, and the annual budget.

Governors of the capital and provinces are appointed by royal decree. Deputy Governors of the capital and provinces and governors of municipalities, districts, and khans are appointed by sub decree, while the deputy governors are appointed by Prakas of the MoI. All governors and deputy governors are paid civil servants and are representatives of, and are accountable to the central government. Governors are responsible for coordinating central government ministries in the area, particularly for security, social and public order, law, and human rights.

The NCDD is given an important implementation role and authority. It shall establish subcommittees with working groups on functions and resources, fiscal and financial affairs, and personnel of subnational administrations.

To download the Organic-law on administrative management (2008) - unofficial translation, click here

The D&D operations

Despite the existence of regulations on D&D for more than a decade, the empowerment of local administration in not yet realized across Cambodia. Actually, the fund allocation from the Central Government to Communes / Sangkat remains weak although it is increasing every year. In addition, if two third of that fund is to be assigned for the Commune development projects (one third being allocated to administrative costs), it is more likely to be spend for infrastructure investments than for social development.

Regarding the other levels of sub-national administration, there is no fund allocation from the Central Government so far and very poor functional decentralisation. The NCDD-S plans to delegate budget starting from 2014. In addition, sub-national levels of administration have modest powers to levy taxes. 

There are many key stakeholders in the reform process with a range of sometimes conflicting interests. Furthermore, underlying governance arrangements and institutional capacities for reform are weak in many areas. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) and National Committee for Democratic Development (NCDD) remain the key advocates of reform. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), a critical player in the successful achievement of reform, remains a cautious player in supporting the effort, as many other line ministries that remain reluctant to identify functions and resources to be decentralized; eventually they may need to be forced by the NCDD and MEF into new functional and funding arrangements.

Regarding Social Protection, the commitment of the Central Government to Social Development should lead to the prioritization of social development actions in the five-year term plans developed by SNA Councils. That prioritization was actually recalled to sub-national representants in early May 2013 during a workshop organized by NCDD-S. That request from the central government seems to be well understood and accepted by SNA representatives but must come together with budget allocation.