Abstract

Due to the retail price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) having been raised by the Thai government by 0.50 baht per kilogram each month for 12 consecutive months from September 2013, by October 2014 the price is going to reach 24.82 baht (0.83 dollars) per kilogram. It affects the consumers’ cost of living extensively and it has caused a massive protest. Accordingly, a price compensation policy has been employed in order to maintain the retail price of LPG for low-income citizens at 18.13 baht per kilo for 1 year. SuanDusit Rajabhat University’s SuanDusit Poll was assigned to conduct a census of households’, small restaurants’, and food shops’ LPG usage; however, there was dissatisfaction with the census result. Similarly, certain local government organizations (LGOs) in Thailand were also assigned to collect additional data to promote the policy in local areas, and to assist people to buy LPG via a mobile system. However, the LGOs have not been able to assist people effectively as required, since the process outlined above has not been operated by the LGOs from the outset. In this paper, the author argues that to assign the university to collect data was impractical; further, the failure to give the assignment to the LGOs portrays ignorance of the LGOs’ responsibility in terms of local government organization and it also significantly overlooks an important principle of decentralization theory. In summary, it is suggested that for future local policies or projects, the government should decentralize those tasks to the LGOs directly since the LGOs operate for the benefit of local people; as a result, the people would have their needs met and the tasks would be run smoothly, effectively, and worthily.

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