Villagers worry Administrator is extorting people over office construction in Thanbyuzayat

May 30, 2023

HURFOM: The residents of Thanbyuzayat reported that their Ward Administrative Chair is arbitrarily levying money from people to reconstruct the district administration office that was destroyed by an explosion.

On February 23 of this year, at around 6 a.m. The administrative office of Kyaung Paing in Thanbyuzayat city was destroyed by a bomb explosion. The roof and side walls of the administrative office building were damaged, and money is now being collected to rebuild it.

Despite receiving more than 30 Million Kyat within 2 weeks, they continue collecting money from neighborhood homes. The residents are concerned that it is leading to a situation where money will be misused.

“According to orders from above, they have been arbitrarily collecting money to rebuild the damaged Ward-Admin-Office. This is the reason for the collection of monies that the Chair provided. It has been two weeks, on May 23. Chairman U San Kyi himself came to collect it. It started with tens of thousands because it’s his neighborhood; he knows which house has money. It is said that rich houses have to add a few hundred thousand. Now they have raised about 30 million kyat, and they are still collecting money. I don’t think building this office will cost that much,” said a resident who wanted to remain Anonymous.

“We’ve given twice, and it’s been over two weeks between the first time and now. The Admin and his group are also building some shops next to the office and selling them now. Is the chair going to misuse the group’s money?” asked a 40-year-old resident of Thanbyuzayat.

According to retired Administrative staff, Ward/Village Administration Offices usually do not need to be self-financed. Regions often manage and approve a budgeted allocation from State General Administration Department GAD funds.

Since the coup by the junta military on February 1, 2021, the exploitation by administrative departments from the ward to the township district level has significantly increased.

Victims have experienced differing levels of exploitation and extortion, for endorsements to applications for travel permits (passport), or guest lists, or when making complaints on transactional contracts.

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