Governor coy over CEO appointment

PHUKET: Governor Pongpayome Vasaputi today deflected questions about Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s plan to turn Phuket into an experimental province with a Chief Executive Office, or CEO, instead of a governor. At his bi-weekly press briefing, Gov Pongpayome pointed out that the name of the CEO will be announced by the government at the end of next week. “Don’t ask me any more about it,” he said. “I’ve already spoken about it a great deal. I don’t know who will get the job, but many people have been asking me about it, and I’ve been telling them how important the job is.” Smiling, he added, “So if I’m not the one appointed, I’m going to have a red face. “But I do want to stay in Phuket because I have many plans I want to follow through,” he said.