Lessons on management in policy implementation

(Baonghean) -Thanh Chuong is the second locality in the province in terms of the number of meritorious people, receiving monthly preferential allowances of up to 8,777 people, the amount of payment is nearly 10 billion VND/month. However, during the implementation process, some localities in Thanh Chuong have made mistakes leading to the loss of officials, loss of people's trust...

Promote what is good

The policy officer of Thanh Hung commune took us to visit Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhan in hamlet 2, whose husband and son are martyrs. Receiving us in a spacious 3-room tiled house, Mrs. Nhan emotionally said: “Thanks to the attention of the government and the help of organizations, from a makeshift level 4 house, I now have a solid house to live in and worship my husband and children; on holidays and Tet, my family always receives attention and visits from all levels of government and neighbors. For Mrs. Nhan to have this house of gratitude worth over 150 million VND, it is thanks to the support of the Vincom Charity Fund (Hanoi) 40 million VND, the district 10 million VND, the province 10 million VND, ... the support of relatives and people in the commune who contributed working days.

Mr. Nguyen Canh Hanh - Chairman of Thanh Hung Commune People's Committee said: Every year, the commune has a specialized resolution on implementing policies and regimes, and gratitude work; there is a plan to direct each part of the work specifically and in detail. In paying policies and regimes, the commune invites families to receive them at the commune headquarters, which is both timely and a way to check and supervise between the payment staff and the recipients. And the most important thing is that the commune staff set an example, not allowing relatives to receive more or duplicate policies, causing people to question and complain.

From the socialization movement of gratitude work, Thanh Hung commune has mobilized hundreds of millions of VND to repair and build houses for policy beneficiaries, build and renovate the cemetery and martyrs' temple of the commune; on holidays and Tet, the commune organizes visits and thoughtfully helps policy families; organizes meetings and discussions with typical policy families, organizes delegations of policy families elected by 12 hamlets to visit Truong Son Cemetery, Quang Tri Ancient Citadel... With a clear and scientific approach, dedicated commune officials, for many consecutive years Thanh Hung commune has always completed the gratitude work well, without any complaints; the commune has been commended by the President.

In the whole Thanh Chuong district, in the past 5 years, there have been over 1,500 visits by agencies, units, businesses, and schools to visit and present gifts to policy beneficiaries with a total amount of nearly 1 billion VND; build 283 new houses, repair and upgrade 361 gratitude houses with a total cost of nearly 6 billion VND, and contribute more than 2.3 billion VND to the Gratitude Fund. Agencies and organizations such as the district's Education Department implemented the movement "Silk dress for grandmothers", the Women's Union with the movement of giving savings books of gratitude, youth union members contributed working days to build houses for families with preferential policies, restored martyrs' cemeteries, lit candles in gratitude... In addition, the district also received support from businesses and philanthropists contributing nearly 5 billion VND to build 106 gratitude houses, typically Tan Hong Import-Export Company supported 2 billion VND, Vincom Company's Charity Fund supported 1.2 billion VND... Thanh Chuong is also one of the first units in the province to complete Program 167 early to build houses for poor households.

House of gratitude of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhan in hamlet 2, Thanh Hung commune.

Correcting mistakes

In addition to the above achievements, in the past, the work of gratitude and payment of policies in Thanh Chuong has also had serious violations, leading to complaints and resentment among the people. For example, in Cat Van commune, from 2006 to June 2012, dozens of policy beneficiaries (mostly fathers and mothers of martyrs and wounded soldiers) passed away, but commune officials were slow to complete death registration procedures and did not report to superiors, thereby embezzling hundreds of millions of dong.

After the press exposed the incident, the District Party Committee and People's Committee issued disciplinary warnings to the Commune Chairman, expelled the commune policy officer from the Party, and recovered 143,058,000 VND. The police have investigated and decided to prosecute the case... In Thanh Chi commune, in the years 2008 - 2011, commune officials made fake birth certificates and death reports to embezzle policy money. Accordingly, some Thanh Chi commune officials "magically" changed the age and date of birth of beneficiaries of the support regime for the elderly, "hidden" cases of people with revolutionary contributions who were subject to reduction of the regime because they had passed away, in order to continue receiving subsidies from the district; other policy beneficiaries (including mentally ill subjects) were twice issued decisions by the District People's Committee to increase the social allowance level, but the Commune People's Committee still "hidden" these decisions, and continued to pay the beneficiaries according to the old allowance level.

More seriously, Thanh Chi commune officials also "declared dead" those who were still healthy, residing locally or far away to "embezzle" funeral support money... After the incident was exposed, the Standing Committee of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee issued a decision to discipline the entire Standing Committee of the Commune Party Committee with a warning, dismiss the position of Commune Party Committee Secretary, remove the position of Commune People's Committee Chairman, dismiss the position of Commune Vice Chairman, expel from the Party, and force the commune policy officer to quit his job...

In Thanh Tuong commune, although there was no profiteering in the payment of policies, because the subjects received the wrong policies, the commune Chairman and the commune's policy officers had to receive disciplinary warnings. Talking to us, Mr. Luu Van Hoa - Chairman of Thanh Tuong Commune People's Committee said: "Because I trusted the professional staff, I did not check carefully, leading to some lists they made with errors that I did not detect and still signed.

The mistake was that management was lax, policy officers were still considerate, thinking that because they had previously let the deceased extend their benefits, now they could also let them, leading to violations." Admitting his mistake, Mr. Nguyen Huu Tung, a policy officer of Thanh Tuong commune, said: "Because I did not have a firm grasp of the documents implementing the policies, my grasp of the subjects was sometimes loose, leading to confusion in the payment work, and the working process was still considerate, leading to violations of principles.

After the district inspection team discovered the mistake, I seriously accepted the disciplinary action, met with the subjects to clarify the situation and collect all the money they had received to pay back to the State". In addition to self-rectifying the management work at the commune level, Mr. Luu Van Hoa also recommended that the district's Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs should do a good job of inspection, promptly remind, rectify and help the grassroots grasp and carry out the tasks that the grassroots do not understand clearly and have problems in the implementation process. Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh - Head of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Thanh Chuong district also admitted: "Recently, some localities in the district still let violations happen because the direction, inspection and supervision work of the district's Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has not been done well, not closely with the grassroots. This is a lesson in management work for us".

Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh, Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee, frankly said: "Our recent violations were due to lax management. We are directing a review of all communes in the district, holding meetings with commune chairmen and policy officers to thoroughly understand and strengthen policy training, and coordinate with departments and branches to inspect and correct violations that have occurred. We will strictly handle the right people for the right crimes to regain the people's trust. In addition, we will review and rearrange the staff of the district's Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to better advise and implement instructions at the grassroots level; strengthen direct payment to avoid unfortunate violations like the recent ones."

It can be said that the implementation of policies for people with meritorious services and social beneficiaries in Thanh Chuong district in the past time has revealed "bright" and "dark" aspects. If any place or part of the work is closely directed, there will be good results, but if any place or part of the work is lax in management, there will be unfortunate consequences, causing loss of state budget, affecting the lives of beneficiaries, reducing people's trust in cadres and party members, and even leading to the loss of cadres.

Article and photos: Duc Dung