- Kamnan
A kamnan ( _th. กำนัน) is a Thai governing official at the
tambon (subdistrict) level. It is usually translated as "subdistrict headman".The position of a kamnan was introduced with the "thesaphiban" administrative reforms at the end of the 19th century, first enacted in 1892. On of the village elders of the
muban . The kamnan was chosen or elected among the village elders (phu yai ban) of the villages within the tambon. It was originally a lifetime post. Their main task was to implement the policies from the higher administrative levels, and being the main point of contact for the people in their area.Being a very centralized state, it took till the 1990s to have the local administration given more focus. With the "Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Authority Act BE 2537" (
1994 ) [cite web
url=http://www.ipd.ph/logolinksea/resources/Tambon.pdf
format=PDF
title=Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Authority Act BE 2537] and later the 1997 constitution the Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAO) were created as new local administrative units. During a grace period the Kamnan were member of the TAO. Also the lifetime term was changed to a five year term.ources
References
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