One of Pattaya’s four deputy mayors, Wirawat Khakhai was dismissed last week by mayor Pairat Suttithamrongsawat. The mayor cited incompatibility as the reason for the dismissal.

The final straw apparently came when the deputy mayor refused to give up on his quest to acquire an expensive geographic information system (GIS) to map out and track the city’s tax collection process.

Mayor Pairat said that the proposal was deemed worthwhile, but purchasing the system would upset the budget, so he opted to forego the idea. This in turn upset Wirawat and he persisted to raise the proposal at every opportunity.