Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn responded yesterday to the People's Party's (PP) criticism of the Social Security Office's (SSO) excessive spending, saying it made a malicious accusation based on trivial matters and did not provide the public with all the information.
Mr Phiphat said the SSO's budget for the management of the Social Security Fund (SSF) is managed by the Social Security Board, whose members were elected, not appointed.
"Hence, the person who made headlines with such criticism should ask herself if she had told people all the facts," said the minister.
He was responding to comments by Rakchanok Srinok, a PP MP for Bangkok, who on Saturday posted on her Facebook page her concerns over the SSO's budget spending, citing excessive expenses, such as overseas trips, training and public relations materials.
The SSO, the secretariat of the SSF, is under the Ministry of Labour.
Mr Phiphat suggested Ms Rakchanok should have approached him about her concerns, asked him in an interpellation or even grilled him in a censure debate so that he would have had a chance to respond immediately and the public would have received complete information about all these matters.
The current Social Security Board comprises 21 members, including representatives from employees, employers, and government agencies.
Seven of them are from the Progressive Social Security group, affiliated with the PP, which won all seven seats representing the employee sector in the December 2023 board member election.
According to Mr Phiphat, the total budget to fund the SSF management currently accounts for only 3% of the SSO's entire budget, even though up to 10% is allowed.
Responding to Ms Rakchanok's accusation of excessive spending on the SSO and SSF executives' overseas trips and training, Mr Phiphat said there are clear regulations on the cabin classes for officers when they travel overseas which the SSO strictly adheres to.
He said it was also malicious for Ms Rakchanok to say that more than 400 million baht has been spent on printing calendars for free distribution, omitting the fact that that amount covered eight years.
Spending 50 million baht a year on printing calendars for 12 million people as part of the SSF's public relations is reasonable, he said.
He apologised to the 25 million members of the SSF, as some struggled with its hotline due to limited lines.