At last week's Cabinet meeting, reports indicated that the name of Natthaphon Rangsitpol, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, was set to be proposed for a cross-ministry transfer to the position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy — but a technical hitch prevented the matter from being placed on the meeting agenda.
Natthaphon has served as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry for a full four years. However, during the past four months since Warawut Silpa-archa took over as Minister of Industry, insiders at the ministry have been whispering that friction and a lack of smooth coordination have emerged between the two — evidenced by the fact that over those four months, the minister has produced virtually no concrete achievements to speak of.
Natthaphon knows full well that if he were to submit a request to extend his tenure for another year, approval from Warawut would almost certainly not be forthcoming — and worse, he might even be packed off to a shelving position at the Prime Minister's Office.
He therefore reached out to Akanat Promphan, the Minister of Energy and his former boss who previously served as Minister of Industry — someone he has a proven working relationship with — to request a cross-ministry transfer to become Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy.
Both Akanat and Warawut gave interviews pointing in the same direction: that Natthaphon would move to become Permanent Secretary of Energy.
This left senior civil servants at the Ministry of Energy who had been eagerly hoping to rise to the permanent secretaryship utterly stunned — out of nowhere, the minister had brought in an outsider, who leapfrogged over their heads to claim the top post!
Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Industry, all eyes were on who would succeed Natthaphon as permanent secretary.
Reports emerged that as Natthaphon prepared to vacate his seat, he was ready to put forward the name of Chanthanon Wannakhajon, Special Expert attached to the Prime Minister's Office and former Secretary-General of the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) — or alternatively Chayanant Phakdichit, also known as "Dr. Yi," Director of the Office of the National Land Policy Committee and a former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Both candidates are outsiders.
Warawut, however, wanted someone from within the ministry to take the permanent secretaryship. The person said to be his choice is Phasakon Chairat, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry responsible for the industrial economy mission group, overseeing the Office of Industrial Economics, and someone who in recent times has been entrusted with policy-level assignments — including work related to the EEC, which is a major undertaking for the Ministry of Industry.
Once Warawut set his specification — no outsiders — Natthaphon pushed instead for Nattiya Netsupa, Director-General of the Department of Industrial Promotion, a close associate with whom he works well in tandem, to inherit his position. But no agreement with the political side could be reached.
As a result, the Cabinet meeting last week carried only the single agenda item of moving Natthaphon to become Permanent Secretary of Energy. There was no proposal to name Phasakon as Permanent Secretary of Industry, because Natthaphon refused to sign off on nominating Phasakon — and without that, the matter could not go to the Cabinet. Under established convention, before an outgoing permanent secretary vacates the post, it falls to that person to propose the name of the new permanent secretary, sign to certify it, and then submit it to the Cabinet.
With things standing this way, Cabinet Secretary-General Natjaree Anantasilp raised an objection, noting that if Natthaphon had not signed the nomination of Phasakon as permanent secretary, there could be a legal problem.
Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs Pakorn Nilprapa, however, clarified that it is not necessary for the outgoing permanent secretary to sign the proposal, as it is merely a practice guideline and not a legal requirement.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, for his part, felt that since there was uncertainty over whether a legal violation might or might not occur, he chose not to proceed with consideration of either the Energy Permanent Secretary or the Industry Permanent Secretary matter, and instructed all parties concerned to go back and resolve things properly first.
On this matter, reports from Government House indicate that the document requiring the outgoing permanent secretary to nominate the new one is an administrative procedure, not a legal requirement. The party with the authority to propose a permanent secretary appointment to the Cabinet is the minister — not the outgoing permanent secretary. The outgoing permanent secretary's role is merely to sign to certify, which is simply a document vetting step within the ministry; the outgoing permanent secretary holds no decision-making power over who will succeed them, as that authority belongs solely to the minister and the Cabinet.
Therefore, if the outgoing permanent secretary does not sign the document, it does not in any way render the proposal to appoint a new permanent secretary unlawful.
Following this episode of confusion, there are whispers that Akanat Promphan no longer wants to receive Natthaphon as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, because sentiment within the ministry has begun to turn against it, with staff preferring that a homegrown ministry insider take the post instead. Three candidates are in the running: Warakorn Prommobon, Director-General of the Department of Mineral Fuels; Sarawut Kaeotatip, Director-General of the Department of Energy Business; and Watthanapong Khuroawat, Director of the Energy Policy and Planning Office.
Word has it that this tug-of-war over the permanent secretary's chair has already been referred to "Thongchuea," advisor to the Prime Minister, and "Newin," the Prime Minister's political godfather, for a decision.
Now we wait and see whether Natthaphon will be pointed toward whiling away his days keeping the monitor lizards company at Government House — who will become Permanent Secretary of Energy, and who will become Permanent Secretary of Industry.
