One might remember that President Thein Sein in his address on March 1, 2013 upon the completion of one year of his tenure said that he would foster a situation where ethnic youth will exchange their arms for laptops and contribute to nation building.
Similarly, a month into his tenure, he delivered a nationwide televised address where he pledged to strive for good governance and make the government ‘clean’.
The President has made a lot of promises to the people during two and half years of his five-year tenure. He promised to dissociate himself from those who wished to take a u-turn on the ongoing reform process; he promised to reduce poverty level from 26% to 16%; he vowed to achieve peace with all armed ethnic groups.
He has made mammoth efforts to make his government efficient and transparent during past 30 months. He has revamped the Cabinet. He has also expressed disappointment with his Ministers and his frustration at the lack of competence in management and administration. He has repeatedly warned his Cabinet Ministers to stay away from corruption, and even fired some for corruption.
Cheap telecommunication in the form of cheap mobile SIM cards, 24x7 electricity supply, peace-building with ethnic armed groups might be popular with the people but the President has only 30 months left to make good on the promises to the nation.
The President has a lot to achieve in a very short period. However, it is not just him, but also the Cabinet Ministers who have the collective responsibility to execute and fulfill the pledges made by the President.
