1 department has up to 19 deputy department positions

There are departments with both department heads and deputy department heads, and there are departments with 19 deputy department heads. In 2 years, 140,000 people should have been cut, but 96,000 people were added without anyone being disciplined.

At the national online conference to study and disseminate the resolutions of the 12th Central Committee, Session 6 this morning, Head of the Central Organizing Committee Pham Minh Chinh spent the whole morning analyzing Resolution No. 18 on "a number of issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently".

Head of the Central Organizing Committee Pham Minh Chinh. Photo: Nhat Bac

According to him, in 30 years of renovation, we have innovated the economy along with the political system. The harmonious renovation of factors contributes to promoting the country's development in all aspects. However, the organizational apparatus is still cumbersome, with many levels and many focal points, especially the number of focal points inside the agencies in the political system is increasingly expanding, and the effectiveness and efficiency have not met the requirements.

The country has 42 general departments, a 2-fold increase compared to 2011; 826 departments and divisions under general departments, an increase of 4.7%; 7,280 divisions in general departments, an increase of 4.7%; 750 departments and equivalents under ministries, an increase of 13.6%; 3,970 divisions under ministries, an increase of 13% compared to 2011. This figure does not include the Army and the Police.

The proportion of civil servants serving today is very large, such as at the Central level in party agencies accounting for 27%; in political and social organizations 30%.

"There are agencies where drivers account for up to 17%, even in the Central Organizing Committee it is 13%. Many agencies propose that drivers be civil servants, but when will that change or be streamlined?", he noted.

Everyone wants to manage

The Head of the Central Organizing Committee also pointed out that some Party advisory agencies with state expertise such as the Organizing Committee, the Inspection Committee, the Propaganda Committee... still have overlapping functions and tasks with the State's Home Affairs, Inspection, Information and Communications agencies. Some ministries such as Transport and Construction; Planning and Investment with some other ministries are also in a similar situation.

The management of foreign-related public debt has three ministries: Planning and Investment, Finance, and the State Bank, but the effectiveness, efficiency, and coordination are not close. There are issues that cannot be controlled, but re-integration is also very difficult.

Photo: Nhat Bac

“Everybody wants to be a manager. I think your desire to be a manager is good, but how to do it appropriately is the problem,” the Head of the Central Organizing Committee shared.

The number of government ministries is up to 30, while in Japan this number is 11, Singapore 15, China 20... Compared to European countries, Vietnam is much higher.

Regarding local administrative units, he said that in 1986 there were only 44 provincial administrative units, but now it has increased to 63. After 30 years of renovation, the country has added 19 more provinces, 178 districts, and 1,136 communes.

In the past 10 years, only one province has been reduced, which is the merger of Ha Tay into Hanoi. There is only a tendency to separate, not merge.

Talking about the experience of merging Ha Tay into Hanoi, Mr. Chinh emphasized the difficulty: “Merging departments is already difficult, because the two department heads now only choose one. Merging at the provincial level is even more difficult, because they are all members of the Central Committee, which is very difficult.”

However, he said that after looking back nearly 10 years, the decision to merge Ha Tay and Hanoi was "correct, successful, and effective".

"If you can merge a large province like that, why can't you do it with communes and wards?", he raised the issue and emphasized: "Merging means immediately reducing the number of staff. Ha Tay merging with Hanoi is a vivid lesson, showing that no matter how difficult it is, it can be done."

Resolution calls for 140,000 reduction, actual increase 96,000

The number of people receiving salaries and allowances from the state budget is currently about 4 million people, not including the Army and Police.

“The number of people receiving salaries and allowances from us is increasing very quickly. The economy is facing many difficulties. These difficulties are concentrated in public service units with over 2 million people and cadres at the commune, village and residential group levels,” the Head of the Central Organizing Committee pointed out.

He also raised the difficulty of dealing with cases under "other contracts" of up to 239,000 people, accounting for 6% of the total number of people the budget is supporting.

“According to Resolution 39, every year we have to reduce 70,000 people, after 2 years we have to reduce 140,000 - 150,000 people, but in reality, it is the opposite, we cannot reduce but instead increase by 96,000 people. This is a contradiction,” he emphasized.

He cited the ratio of civil servants and public employees receiving salaries per 1,000 people, Vietnam has 43 people, not including the Army and Police. Some countries in the region, including the Army and Police, such as the Philippines, have only 13 people, India 16, Indonesia 17, Singapore 25...

He asked: "In recent years, has anyone been disciplined for increasing staff, or has anyone been praised for successfully reducing staff?"

“We have checked and have not seen anyone praised or disciplined. It is very difficult to implement a Party policy without praise, criticism, or discipline. The general trend is still to ask for an increase in staffing, because an increase in staffing means an increase in the regular budget.”

More than 81 thousand deputy leaders, from deputy department head to deputy minister

Regarding the number of leaders and deputies, the Head of the Central Organization Committee said that the proportion is still high, and the appointment of ranks in some central agencies is still high.

“The country currently has more than 81,000 deputy leaders from deputy department heads to deputy ministers, accounting for 21.7% of the total number of civil servants from the central to district levels. For every 5 civil servants, there is 1 deputy leader, in some places there are 44/46 leaders, in some agencies 100% of the staff are leaders, no one is a specialist,” he cited.

He emphasized, “We are having deputy inflation.” There are so many deputies, but in some places there are not enough deputies to attend meetings.

“How to build a simple mechanism, each department has 5 or 6 deputies, the shortage is very quick but still complains about not having enough people to attend meetings, clearly the operating mechanism has problems, the functions and tasks have problems”.

There is little accountability, little decentralization, and everything is taken care of so it cannot be handled. "A case involves 20-30 people but it is handling the whole country's affairs, so congestion, queuing, and negativity are natural," said Mr. Pham Minh Chinh.

There are departments with 6 department heads, 7 deputy department heads, including department heads, deputy department heads, and even 19 deputy department heads.

“I have summarized that the reports of the ministries and branches do not match the directory. So there was a mistake in the printing process or the report was incorrect. There are no reports on ranks and deputy ranks in some places, but when opening the directory, there are 19 deputy ranks. It is embarrassing to have so many ranks,” he said.

According to Vietnamnet.vn