Government spokeswoman Naruemol Pinyosinwat was apparently responding to growing criticism on the social networks that the Prayut government was ignoring the plight of flood victims in northeastern provinces.

The criticism came after Prayut visited Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani late last week instead of going to Ubon Ratchathani and other northeastern provinces hit by floods.

Naruemol said Prayut was giving priority to helping flood victims and had instructed government agencies concerned to provide assistance in accordance with established procedures, starting from emergency measures to evacuate flood victims from their homes to delivery of food and drinking water to flooded areas.

She said that once the water had receded, the government would speed up the surveys of affected areas to carry out rehabilitation work and also provide remedial measures to the victims.

These include paying compensation of Bt50,000 to the families of each victim killed by the floods and Bt200,000 for homes completely ruined by the water..Those with partially damaged houses will receive between Bt15,000 and Bt17,000 compensation, depending on the magnitude of damage, she added.

Moreover, other government agencies, especially the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, will provide help to those affected people.

“Flood victims can rest assured that the government will not abandon them,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the management of the donated items would be transparent, with a committee in each province charged with distributing donated funds and goods to the victims.

Questions have been raised about his fitness to hold a Cabinet position because of his alleged entanglement in a drugs-smuggling case in Australia decades ago, doubts over the revocation of his police ranking as well his PhD degree.

“I’m not the target. As I have told reporters many times before, I am a key player in the formation of the present government because I was the one who handled the gathering of the required votes to back General Prayut Chan-o-cha to be the prime minister.”

He said those who were behind this multiple-pronged attack on him know that these controversies would shake the government and it would lose stability. “Their ultimate goal is to overthrow the government, General Prayut and General Prawit Wongsuwan.”

He said he had become “a village bombarded with bullets”, but the real aim was to topple the government.

“If they really wanted to target me, why are they doing it now when they could have done this before?” he asked.

He said intelligence officials were aware who was behind this campaign. “It’s a group that aims to overthrow the government,” said Thammanat, also known by the alias “Meu Prasan 10 This” (all-direction master coordinator)

Thammanat claimed he had been the point man in talking to 19 coalition parties to join the Prayut-led government. He compared himself to an artery which if busted would cause the government to collapse. Thammanat claimed he had a back-up plan to have a coordinator for each party, “so if I’m targeted and hit, no matter what happens, it wouldn’t affect the government anyway.”

Thammanat said he had received a lot of support from fellow-politicians from both sides, especially from Prayut and Prawit. He insisted that he had nothing to hide and had already clarified all points. “I can answer all the questions. I can solve my problems. I don’t see myself as a weak link,” the deputy minister said.

Thammanat had explained himself during a parliamentary questioning session on Wednesday (September 11) about an Australian media report this week, which said that he had served four years in a Sydney jail in 1993 after allegedly pleading guilty to conspiring to import a commercial quantity of heroin. That case in Australia had been settled a long time ago. He claimed that he had never confessed to smuggling heroin following his arrest in April 1993, that his case had never been taken to court, and that he was only in detention as per a pre-bargaining process until the inquiry process was complete.

On the same day, political activists Ekkachai Hongkangwan and Chokchai Paiboonratchata asked the Election Commission (EC) to look into several points related to Thammanat, such as how he had managed to get reinstated in the Army and then got promoted in 1997 after returning to Thailand and why he had used the military rank of captain in the documents he had submitted to join the current Cabinet even though his title was revoked through a Royal Gazette announcement in September 1998.

Thammanat was also accused of having a bogus PhD degree from an online “California University”. This issue was raised by CSI LA, a Facebook page which published informatiom that led to a probe against Deputy Prime Minister Prawit over his luxury watch collection before.  Many Thai netizens now criticised Thammanat over his alleged lack of qualification to serve as an MP.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, on Friday, again came to Thammat’s defence. Wissanu pointed out that irrespective of whether Thammanat’s doctorate degree was fake or real, it would not disqualify him from being a Cabinet member because that matter was irrelevant. A Cabinet member must have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent under the Constitution’s Article 160 and all the 36 Cabinet members, including Thammanat, had been checked, he said. Wissanu declined to offer a specific response when asked if Thammanat was being targeted with the intention of discrediting the government.

Chuti, whose resignation as pary-list MP took effect on Friday (September 13), remains the minister of social development and human security.

Prayut and his entourage left Don Mueang military airport in a C-130 at 7.15am bound for Nakhon Si Thammarat International Airport in Tambon Pak Poon of Muang district.

Accompanying Prayut were Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda, Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Culture Minister Ittipol Khunpluem, Labour Minister MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul, and Cabinet Secretary General Disthat Hotrakit.

Three other Cabinet members, who were initially scheduled to travel with Prayut, were not on the plane. They were Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Agriculture Minister Thammanas Phromphao, and Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob.

Prayut is scheduled to visit the construction site of a sluice gate of the Klong Tha Rua-Hua Trut in Tambon Tha Rua of Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Muang district this morning. The project is designed to prevent floods in the area. The group will then travel to Tha Rua Mittraparp 30 school to meet students and members of the public.

Prayut and his entourage will travel to Koh Samui in Surat Thani this afternoon where they will visit Phawana Phothikhun Vocational School before viewing the progress of the Chawaeng community development project at 4.40pm. At 5.15pm, he will preside over the opening ceremony of the 4th Samui Festival 2019 at Phru Chawaeng public ground in Tambon Bophut.

He and his entourage are scheduled to return to Don Muang military airport tonight at 8.45.

The judges held a meeting at 1.30 pm to consider the complaint of Phanupong Churak, a Ramkhamhaeng University student, against Prayut.

Phanupong alleged that Prayut’s failure to complete the wording as required by the charter when he led his Cabinet to make an oath of allegiance to the King violated the charter and violated his rights and liberty. The ombudsmen forwarded the complaint to the court for a final decision.

At 4.38pm Wednesday, the Office of the Constitutional Court issued a press statement announcing that the judges had ruled unanimously to reject the complaint on the grounds that the issue did not fall under the power of any constitutional organization to investigate.

The court reasoned that the oath taking before taking office by the Cabinet was deemed a political activity of the Cabinet, a constitutional organization, in its relation to the monarch.

The court also reasoned that after the Cabinet was sworn in on July 16, His Majesty the King signed a printout of his speech that day and sent it to the Cabinet on August 27 to use as a guideline for administering the country.

“As a result, the oath taking by the Cabinet is no longer under power of any constitutional organization to review,” the court’s statement says.

The statement noted that the court had voted to reject a complaint by Ruangkrai Leekijvattana, a former Thai Raksa Chart Party member, who asked the court to consider whether Prayut’s failure to complete the oath wording violated Article 161 of the charter.

The opposition has alleged that Prayut violated Article 161 of the charter for failing to state during oath taking ceremony that he would uphold and adhere to all provisions of the charter.

Prayut has admitted to senior government officials he made a mistake and would take the blame alone.

The House of Representatives scheduled a debate on September 18 to discuss the issue as requested by the opposition. The opposition invoked its charter right to call a general debate on the issue. The charter empowers the opposition to hold a general debate on an issue that is deemed as having a severe impact on the country once a year but no vote would be held at the end of the debate.

Chief opposition whip Suthin Klungsaeng, a Pheu Thai MP, said since the court has made a ruling the opposition would be able to debate in the issue in a wider scope.

He said since the court refused to deliberate the issue, it would be the duty of the House to conduct its check and balance duty by reviewing it to seek a solution or an end to the matter.

Thammanat had explain himself to Seri Ruam Thai party-list MP Pol Lieutenant Wisanun Moungpraesri, who is holding Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha responsible for nominating Thammanat for a Cabinet post even though he allegedly lacks the qualifications required of an MP.

The questioning stemmed from an Australian media report this week saying that Thammanat had served four years in a Sydney jail in the 1990s after allegedly pleading guilty to conspiring to import a commercial quantity of heroin and has reportedly been blacklisted from re-entering the country.

However, Thammanat insists he never confessed to smuggling heroin following his arrest in April 1993 and that his case had never been taken to court. As per a pre-bargaining process, he said, he was “locked up” for eight months and then “I was sent to take care of some younger detainees. After this work, I would return to sleep in the place the officials had prepared for me”.

The minister said it took four years for the case to wrap up.

“The Australian court just held me in the pre-bargaining process until the inquiry process was complete. After it ended, I still wanted to stay there with my family,” he said, adding that he has undergone many rounds of clearing his name and now wanted to live in the present and work to serve the Thai public.

“I won’t allow something that happened nearly 30 years ago to ruin my ideology to spend the rest of my life serving people. No matter what position I am in, I vow to work to repay my motherland and uphold Thailand’s three main pillars – nation, religion and monarchy,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Seri Ruam Thai Party leader Pol General Seripisut Temiyawet told reporters outside Parliament in the Kiak Kai area that if he were prime minister, he would resign to take responsibility for proposing a person with a criminal past like Thammanat and have him royally appointed as Cabinet member.

“You can’t argue that this is a matter under a court procedure from outside the country. Those involved in drug trafficking are all bad. How can such a person hold a minister’s position?” Seripisut asked.

As for Thammanat’s claim that this is being used to discredit and smear his name, Seripisut said: “I don’t want to say that I was the person who tipped the foreign media. After all, the Australian media already had some information. When the government will not do anything, I as the opposition must find an indirect way to check this. If you want to scold anyone for this, just scold me.”

When asked whether he was worried about being sued, he said: “How can a drug inmate sue an innocent person?” He also said he had just asked the media to find information and had not guided or paid them. “I admit to raising this point with the Australian media. I cannot stand by to see the government supporting this person as a minister.”

Meanwhile, Thai Civilised Party leader Mongkolkit Suksintharanon said he was ready to back opposition MPs in their request to have Thammanat investigated and punished if he is found to have committed a wrongdoing, even though he considers him a brother. However, he said, people should first wait to study the Australian court documents, which can be requested by the executive or legislative branch.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, meanwhile, revealed that Thammanat had provided evidence to explain his qualifications to the Secretariat of the Cabinet before taking up the Cabinet post, but he does not know if the Australian court verdict was included.

Meanwhile, political activists Ekkachai Hongkangwan and Chokchai Paiboonratchata visited the Election Commission (EC) head office on Wednesday and asked the agency to look into several points related to Thammanat, such as how he managed to get reinstated in the Army and then got promoted in 1997 after returning to Thailand, why he used the military rank of captain in the documents he submitted to join the current Cabinet even though his title was revoked in a Royal Gazette announcement in September 1998 and why his Thai ID card number starts with 4 when according to his year of birth – 1965 – it should start with 3.

Chokchai also urged Thammanat to be honest about what he did in Australia. “How can be we sure you won’t lie to people when running the country?” he asked.

Prawit was commenting on reports that micro-party partners became dissatisfied over a comment by Deputy Agriculture Minister Thammanas Phromphao, an aide of Prawit’s who is assigned to coordinate with micro-parties in the coalition.

Over the weekend, Thammanas compared himself to a zookeeper in charge of monkeys, saying he had to feed the monkeys enough bananas. Thammanas made the comment after reports that micro partners in the coalition were demanding seat quotas on House panels.

Thammanas’s comment reportedly infuriated Pracha Tham Thai party leader and party-list MP Pichet Sathirachawal who was reportedly planning to hold a party meeting later on Tuesday to consider pulling out of the coalition.

But Prawit said he has talked to Pichet and leaders of other micro-parties and he found that they had no conflicts with the coalition leader and would not pull out.

Prawit is known to serve as the government’s manager.

Speaking to reporters at the Government House, Prawit said it was not the right time to discuss charter amendments.

He was referring to a proposal from the Democrat Party that called for the establishment of a special House committee to study how to “improve” the 2017 charter. The Democrats promised during their election campaign to push for charter amendments to make it more democratic.

“We are now trying to tackle the flood woes. Everything is in turmoil so the issue should be put aside for discussion later,” Prawit said when asked to comment on the Democrat’s proposal.

He said the people’s opinions should also be surveyed before the charter is amended because the current constitution had been approved by the public in a national referendum.

Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit slammed the Prayut Chan-o-cha government for its handling of the current flood situation in the country.

Speaking in a panel debate on amendment of the Constitution at Khon Kaen University on Sunday, he said he had visited people in Yasothon and Roi Et provinces. He found that floods had damaged 100,000 rai of Yasothon farmers’ rice farms, with losses estimated at Bt500 million.

If the government compensated them at Bt1,000 per rai, it would cost only about Bt100 million. Thanathorn estimated damage from floods in nine provinces in the Northeast at about Bt5.4 billion. The government has not yet provided sufficient compensation to the flood victims, he said. “If the government seriously wants to help them, it would not cost much, compared to the huge bill of one mass-transit line in Bangkok,” he said, citing the Pink line, which runs 34.5 kilometres. It costs Bt53.4 billion but would benefit only a few people, he said.

ACM Manat Wongwat has been promoted from the post of Air Force chief of staff to the post of Air Force commander-in-chief.

The reshuffle will take effect on October 1.

Other key transfers included the promotion of First Army Area commander Lt-General Narongphan Jitkaewthae to the post of assistant Army commander-in-chief, a move seen as positioning him for a possible later promotion to the top Army post.

Narongphan’s previous powerful post was given to First Army Corps commander Lt-General Thammanoon Withi.

In the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Defence, General Kukiart Srinakha was transferred from assistant Army chief to deputy permanent secretary.

Other new deputy permanent secretaries for Defence are General Napon Sangsomwong and Admiral Sompraspong Nilsamai, while Lt-General Kongcheep Tantrawanit was transferred from director of the Defence Bureaucratic Development Office to director-general of the Defence Science and Technology Department.

In the Supreme Command, key transfers included General Chaichana Nakkerd moving from joint chief of staff to the post of deputy supreme commander, while General Chalermpol Srisawant became the new joint chief of staff.

Also in the Supreme Command, General Phirapong Muangboonchu, staff officer of the supreme command, was made the commander of the Armed Forces Development Command.

In the Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Chochat Krathet was promoted from Navy advisor to deputy Navy chief, while Admiral Chartchai Sriworakhan was promoted from Navy chief of staff to assistant Navy chief. The post of Navy chief of staff was given to Vice Admiral Sitthiporn Maskasem, commander of the Third Naval Area.