PHNOM PENH -
Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday he was considering the possibility of declaring a state of emergency, though he said it in the middle of an irate speech criticizing price gouging.
Speaking to volunteer doctors and healthcare professionals in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said the pharmacists still have time to decrease the price of face masks, adding they could lose their business license and that all masks would be confiscated from their shops.
“I am checking the possibility of using Article 22 of the Constitution to ask the King to place the country under state of emergency,” he said, immediately after making the threat to shutdown pharmacies.
“I don't want to use it, but [I will] if my call is not effective,” he said, labelling the mask sellers as “opportunists.”
Cambodia, he said, would need to enact a law first to implement the Article 22 of the Constitution, adding that he needs to know the scope of the state of emergency. Hun Sen did add that it would curtail “civil liberties.”
“When the nation faces danger, the King shall make a proclamation to the people putting the country in a state of emergency after agreement with the Prime Minister, the president of Assembly and the president of the Senate” reads Article 22 of the Constitution.
Source: https://www.voacambodia.com/a/prime-minister-hints-at-declaring-state-of-emergency-criticizes-price-gouging-/5346106.html
