• Society

Seventy-Six Officials Fired After Testing Positive for Drugs

• By Ung Chamroeun
• and Meng Seavmey
• April 30, 2024 5:10 PM

PHNOM PENH – A total of 76 civil servants, officials and police officers have been fired by April 29, after testing positive for drugs following a urine test.

The announcement was made on April 29 by Prime Minister Hun Manet on his Facebook page, who added that 56,445 officials had been tested among Cambodia’s public institutions in an anti-drug campaign.

This policy implementation was established in February in a move to combat the use and trafficking of drugs among officials in public institutions, ministries and sub-national administrations.

As per yesterday’s announcement, only 0.13 percent of the civil servants who had been tested appeared to have consumed drugs. The announcement did not specify what kind of drugs these officials had used.

The National Authority for Combating Drugs will continue to conduct tests among national institutions. It will also ask for assistance to get more test kits and will cooperate with the Ministry of Health to create a working group to test positive results a second time, allowing people who tested positive to contest their results.

Civil servants who have been fired will be sent to treatment and rehabilitation centers.

Yong Kim Eng, president of the People Center for Development and Peace, is a supporter of a strict campaign to track officials who use or traffic drugs, and defends the idea that drug users should be treated and receive support to get on a new start.

“This aims to push them to work for society normally even though they cannot return to their governmental position,” he said.  

The social analyst, however, suggested that officials should be granted a second and third test to limit as much as possible the risk of false positives that could have tremendous implications for one’s professional career.

“There’s a group to monitor the test, so there should be another group to confirm the test with another result, ensuring the accuracy by comparing the results,” Kim Eng said. 

In December last year, Interior Minister Sar Sokha already warned that any police force that uses drugs will be fired from the ministry. 

This aims to set an example for the younger generation of the national police force and encourage them to respect the law and ensure no drug users are part of the ministry’s structure.

On April 11, an inter-ministerial committee was established to develop a data authentication management system for civil servants, prison officials, police, and armies who have been dismissed from the framework. 

As discussed in February between Prime Minister Hun Manet, Defense Minister Tea Seiha, Interior Minister Sar Sokha, and Civil Service Minister Hun Many, the committee will ensure that people who have been dismissed for drug use or trafficking will be blacklisted and won’t be able to work for the government again.

A sub-committee will be in charge of developing and managing such a database. It will also be tasked to determine principles on data authentication, system protection and the prevention of any hacking of individuals' data.