Lesson 1: A Two-Sided View - The Government and the People

(Baonghean)Public disclosure and transparency of administrative regulations and procedures are mandatory requirements for departments, agencies, and all levels of government. This is also a solution that contributes to reducing inconvenience and harassment by officials and civil servants, while strengthening the supervisory role of the people…

In recent years, our province has implemented numerous policies and initiatives to promote administrative reform and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the state apparatus. To date, 22 out of 25 departments and agencies, 20 out of 20 districts, cities, and towns, and 456 out of 480 commune-level units maintain and operate the one-stop and integrated one-stop service mechanisms. The Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 2680/QD-UBND dated July 18, 2012, establishing a unit for receiving and returning results under the integrated one-stop service mechanism in the investment sector for projects with 100% investor capital and direct investment in areas outside economic zones and industrial parks. The agencies in this integrated system include: the Provincial People's Committee Office and the Departments of Planning and Investment, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, Finance, and the Provincial Police. This is one of the new initiatives demonstrating the strong determination of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee to accelerate administrative reform and attract investment.

In addition to the administrative procedures already published on the province's electronic portal and posted on the National Database of Administrative Procedures, the Provincial People's Committee has also issued a directive instructing departments, agencies, and localities to fully publicize administrative procedures through their respective media channels and to publicly display them at points of contact for receiving applications for administrative procedures. The total number of administrative procedures applied at provincial-level departments and agencies (including central government agencies located in the province: Police, Tax Department, State Treasury, Customs Department, Social Insurance) is 1,436; at district-level People's Committees, there are 256 procedures; and at commune-level People's Committees, there are 143 procedures. Currently, agencies and units in the province have basically publicized and posted administrative procedures at their headquarters and uploaded them to their websites. Specifically, the Department of Planning and Investment has 240 out of 1436 procedures, the Provincial Tax Department has 179 out of 1436 procedures, and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has 86 out of 1436 procedures...



Operations taking place at a single-window service center at the Department of Transportation. Photo: Sy Minh

Despite some achievements, the implementation of public and transparent administrative procedures in many localities and units is still superficial, perfunctory, and lacks supervision, leading to many inconveniences and harassment in public administration activities.

Recently, public opinion has been stirred by the lack of transparency in the actions of officials in Thanh Chi commune (Thanh Chuong district) regarding the "death declaration" of living individuals who are relatives of families with meritorious service to the revolution. Furthermore, Thanh Chi commune officials have also been found to have misappropriated hundreds of millions of dong in benefits and allowances intended for the elderly, disabled, and mentally ill.

In Thai Hoa Town, in August 2012, the Town People's Court held a first-instance trial against defendant Nguyen Van Hung (born in 1959), former Chairman of the Dong Hieu Commune People's Committee, for the crime of "Abusing his position and authority in the performance of his official duties." In this case, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, in his capacity as Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, directed traffic, irrigation, and land administration officials to collect money for processing land use right certificates for 13 families, totaling over 160 million VND. All of this money was kept off the books, spent improperly according to financial principles and in violation of the law. These are just a few of the many cases that have been uncovered; there are certainly many more hidden and undiscovered incidents.

Mr. Nguyen Chi Nham, Chief Inspector of the province, stated that the aforementioned violations stemmed from the personal motives of officials and civil servants, as well as a lack of transparency in handling administrative procedures at the grassroots level. The fundamental cause of these systemic violations in public administration at the local level and in various departments and agencies is the superficial transparency of administrative procedures; during implementation, officials and civil servants fail to provide specific guidance to citizens, do not publicly display appointment times for resolving issues, intentionally prolong processes to receive bribes, exploit loopholes for personal gain, and officials and leaders lack oversight and supervision.

One area that the Provincial Inspectorate has been inspecting and addressing in localities and departments is the lack of transparency in handling citizens' complaints and denunciations. The process for this is part of the administrative procedures, which stipulate that after receiving citizens' complaints and denunciations, the unit, agency, or locality should publicly inform citizens about the handling process; publicly disclose the decision on handling the complaint or denunciation; and publicly disclose the inspection conclusions. However, many localities and units have not effectively implemented transparency, leading to complaints escalating to higher levels, prolonged disputes, and a decline in public trust in the local government.

Ordinance 34/2007/PL-UBTVQH11 on the implementation of democracy at the commune, ward, and town levels, issued by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly in 2007, affirmed the significant role of the people in "being informed, discussing, and inspecting" the process of socio-economic development management at the grassroots level. The Ordinance also specifically stipulated forms of public disclosure, including: public posting at administrative offices, on the broadcasting system of communes, wards, and towns, and public disclosure through village heads and neighborhood group leaders to inform households, and even through mass media.

Besides implementing Ordinance 34/2007/PL-UBTVQH, in recent years, authorities at all levels have strengthened administrative reform, publicly and transparently disclosing matters directly related to the rights and interests of the people. However, in many localities and departments, the process of publicly and transparently disclosing administrative procedures remains largely superficial, leading to a situation where people are unaware of the relevant procedures, while officials and civil servants engage in harassment, causing inconvenience, "waiting for bribes before resolving issues," or exploiting people's lack of understanding to commit wrongdoing and profit personally; the operation of "brokers" also arises from the lack of public and transparent administrative procedures.

Mr. Le Ba Thieu, Head of the Department for Inspection and Monitoring of the Implementation of Legal Documents at the Department of Justice, stated that the transparency of administrative procedures and legal documents is reflected in the drafting and promulgation process. Of the six steps in drafting and promulgating legal documents, two are crucial: soliciting opinions from those affected by the document before promulgation and publicly posting the document at the office, sending it to neighborhoods, and disseminating it to the people. However, in many communes, wards, and towns, a lack of transparency and openness is evident even before promulgation, as opinions are not solicited from those affected by the document. In 2012, the Department of Justice conducted inspections in 12 districts, examining a total of 519 legal documents and 76,336 administrative documents, and discovered 410 documents with errors related to lack of transparency, non-compliance with regulations, and exceeding authority.

Public disclosure and transparency in administrative procedures are mandatory requirements for effectively implementing grassroots democracy and promoting the people's right to self-governance. Therefore, for an administrative document to be effective, it needs to be disseminated to the people through multiple channels. In this matter, besides recognizing the role of all levels of government, the responsibility of citizens to understand and monitor the process must also be considered. For a long time, many administrative areas have been publicly posted at commune and ward offices, announced through local broadcasting systems, and delivered to individual village and neighborhood leaders, but citizens have lacked attention and understanding, leading to many unfounded complaints and denunciations, wasting the time and effort of functional agencies in verifying the information.

According to the 2011 survey on the "efficiency of public administration and governance" index, which surveyed thousands of people in 30 provinces and cities, over 80% of respondents were unaware of budget revenue and expenditure, and lacked information on planning and land use plans in their communes and wards. Therefore, the people themselves, more than anyone else, must proactively grasp policy information to both correctly follow administrative procedures and effectively monitor the management of those procedures by leaders at all levels...

Nguyen Son - Khanh Ly