“Chaiyachana” criticized the Ministry of Interior’s 227 billion baht budget as misplaced and misused, calling for a 10% cut. He urged a review of the drug rehabilitation system, highlighted misuse of flood relief funds, and demanded investigation into the 400 million baht bulletproof vest procurement.
At 12:50 p.m. on 9 September 2026 at the parliament, Chaiyachana Dechadecho, party-list MP from the Democrat Party, spoke during debate reserving his right to amend the Ministry of Interior’s budget under Section 20. He proposed a 10% cut to the Ministry’s budget, which totals over 227 billion baht, arguing that the funds remain misallocated and fail to truly address public welfare. He identified three major issues: first, the drug rehabilitation problem. The government ordered village chiefs and local leaders to arrest drug users and send them to battalion camps for treatment, but there is no follow-up system after release back to society. This leads to an 80% relapse rate, becoming an endless financial burden on local and district budgets. He suggested reallocating funds from reduced provincial cluster budgets to address this instead.
Chaiyachana stated the second issue concerns flood relief and infrastructure development, where he found serious corruption in urgent disaster aid budgets at the local level. For example, only 50-70 cubic meters of stone were used instead of the specified 100 cubic meters, and only 500 cubic meters of dredging were done instead of the required 1,000. This leaves flood-affected communities enduring substandard roads and constructions. Third, regarding budgets and personnel in the three southern border provinces (the Deep South), he urged the central government to verify the actual existence of personnel, volunteers, and employees appointed to serve there, as some officials cannot even confirm their own positions, raising doubts about their official status. He also demanded investigation into the Department of Provincial Administration’s 400 million baht bulletproof vest procurement to confirm whether delivery and usage are real.
“Therefore, I propose a 10% budget cut for the Ministry of Interior to redirect misused funds back to their proper purposes. I don’t want to think that to advance to a director-general or provincial governor within this ministry, one must travel far to border areas, attend MotoGP events, or football matches to gain career opportunities. Has the Ministry of Interior become a center for power bargaining?” Chaiyachana said.