The Mon State Hluttaw [Parliament] submitted a request letter to the Union Government on Monday, requesting to transfer staff members at the General Administration Ministry to serve as State Hluttaw staff and to work under state Hluttaw administration.
The current staffs working at Mon State Hluttaw office are the staffs appointed by General Administration Ministry under Home Affair Ministry.
Dr. Aung Naing, Deputy Speaker of Mon State Hluttaw, said the transition may be difficult, because the General Administration staffs are only skilled in administration, and that the new staffs will need to study how the Hluttaw works.
“Once they are good enough with how the Hluttaw works, they can begin to work for Hluttaw,” Dr. Aung Naing said. “But now, there are new staffs and it would cause problems in handling the responsibilities.”
The Deputy Speaker continued that Mon State Hluttaw office currently has 50 staff members, including the director, and the Hluttaw proposed to increase staff members up to 124 for the upcoming year. Those staff members will not be working under general administration, but rather under the Hluttaw, in particular.
In addition, the Hluttaw has proposed a budget increase to accommodate the new staffing costs and salaries.
“Yet, the last government did not have meeting as often as we do now, so their expense were less, and this Hluttaw term’s expense is much more,” added Dr. Aung Naing Oo.
The expense budget for Mon State Hluttaw includes salaries of staff members, traveling expenses for Hluttaw representatives, office expenses, and hosting guests. However, Hluttaw is facing budgetary problems because the allocated expenses for Hluttaw representative traveling and hosting guests are inadequate.
In 2010, when the Thein Sein government took office, the Mon State Hluttaw did not have enough staff of its own, so staff members from general administration were requested to work for the Hluttaw.
Mon State Hluttaw has 7 committees, including the Representative Review Committee, Ethnic Nationalities Affair Committee, Law-consulting Review Committee, Finance Project and Economics Committee, Environment Conservation Committee, and the Complaint and Appeal Letter Review and Assessment Committee.