Party Building

Lean Revolution - Part 1: Cannot be delayed

Duc Chuyen-Thanh Duy-Mai Hoa-Thanh Le • DNUM_BHZADZCACF 09:52

Vietnam has gone through many stages of apparatus reform, but reality shows that for a long time, the apparatus still tends to be bloated, with overlapping functions, leading to low efficiency. In the context of the country having gathered enough power and strength, the arrangement and streamlining of the political system apparatus becomes more urgent and cannot be delayed any longer.

News and Politics Reporter Group• March 17, 2025

Vietnam has gone through many stages of reforming the administrative apparatus, but reality shows that for a long time, the apparatus still tends to be bloated, with overlapping functions, leading to low efficiency. In the current context, the country has gathered enough power and strength, the arrangement and streamlining of the political system apparatus has become more urgent and cannot be delayed any longer.

Streamlining and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the political system is one of the consistent policies of our Party and State. Since the 7th Congress, our Party has continuously issued many resolutions and conclusions to lead the implementation of the policy of innovation, streamlining the political system's organizational apparatus, and organizing the apparatus to operate effectively and efficiently. In particular, the documents of the 9th, 12th and 13th National Congresses of our Party have emphasized specific tasks on streamlining the organizational apparatus, or researching and building a comprehensive model of the political system's organizational apparatus in the new period.

According to statistics by Major General Le Van Cuong (former Director of the Ministry of Public Security's Strategy Institute), up to now, the Party Central Committee has issued 7 specialized resolutions on streamlining the apparatus and reducing staff. Most recently, implementing the Resolution of the 12th Party Congress, in 2017, the Party Central Committee issuedResolution No. 18-NQ/TWon "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined, effective and efficient" laid the foundation for the process of reorganizing the apparatus and streamlining the payroll over the past 7 years.

Major General Le Van Cuong said: “Each time it was implemented, certain results were achieved, but it only stopped at the organizational structure of the apparatus, then it expanded again, especially in the period 2005 - 2023. Over the past 20 years, the apparatus has increased in both the number of organizations and cadres, leading to many intermediate levels and an excessive number of cadres. The current apparatus is too heavy and cumbersome, so its effectiveness and efficiency are not high, it is not really closely linked to the people, not close to the people. The resolutions and policies of the Party and the laws of the State are implemented slowly, with low efficiency and are not timely.”

In Nghe An, through the summary of the implementation of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW, in addition to the remarkable results achieved, the Provincial Party Executive Committee also realized that the organization and apparatus of the provincial political system still revealed many challenges.

“The internal organization of an agency or unit has not been truly streamlined. Some departments and branches still have branches and equivalent organizations under their management that have not been arranged and consolidated according to regulations. The functions, tasks, powers, organizational structure, and relationships of some agencies and organizations are not really clear, still overlap, duplicate, and intersect, leading to the situation of making excuses, replacing or omitting tasks. Some tasks are assigned to many agencies to co-chair, so it is not possible to identify the person with the main responsibility. The assignment, decentralization, and delegation of authority between branches, levels, and within each agency and organization are not reasonable, strong, and synchronous. The effectiveness and efficiency of operations have not met the requirements and tasks,” the report of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee sent to the Central Committee frankly acknowledged.

Of course, this is not just a picture in Nghe An, but it is a general picture of the organization of the political system of the whole country, clearly shown through the "measure" of budget expenditure. At the discussion session in the group, the 8th session of the National Assembly (late October 2024), General Secretary To Lam stated a number that made many people ponder and ponder: "Currently, the budget is spending about 70% to pay salaries and regular expenses for operations. If the budget is managed like this, there will be no money left for investment and development. If the country wants to develop, wants this project or that project, where will the money come from?"

Vietnam is currently facing a major challenge: It must overcome the middle-income trap to rise to the level of high-income countries. This requires a strong and continuous breakthrough in the next 20-30 years. As Major General Le Van Cuong emphasized: “The world is changing rapidly and unexpectedly. If we are slow, we will fail.”

From his work process, Comrade Bui Duy Dong - Secretary of Do Luong District Party Committee shared: “The development of the new era has no place for models that are no longer suitable. We need a streamlined government model, in which each level is in charge of its own field without being tied down by the middle layer. “Abolishing the district level” will help shorten the management chain, reduce complicated procedures, thereby ensuring consistency and efficiency in resource regulation. Only then will the needs for economic infrastructure, the urbanization process in rural areas and improving labor productivity be thoroughly resolved, creating an economic system that promotes both “demand” and “supply”.

Practice has proven that an effective management system does not mean having many people working, but having the right people working in the right jobs. When the apparatus is streamlined, individual responsibilities will be clear, avoiding the situation of shirking responsibilities. Therefore, it is impossible to delay further the streamlining and improving the efficiency of the apparatus, but it needs to be implemented in a stronger, more substantial and drastic manner, at the same time, it is necessary to constantly innovate and experiment with new ways of doing things.

This political apparatus reform was defined by General Secretary To Lam as a “revolution”. In the article “Refined - Lean - Strong - Efficient - Effective - Effective", the General Secretary emphasized three main goals: Building a comprehensive model of the political system's organizational apparatus to meet the requirements of the new period, perfecting institutions to put policies into practice, and combining streamlining the apparatus with restructuring the contingent of qualified and qualified cadres.

Major General Le Van Cuong commented: “Although there have been many reforms in the past, we have only stopped at the level of adjustment and lacked fundamentals. This time is different, starting from the Party agencies, the Central Committee has streamlined the apparatus, such as merging the Propaganda Department and the Mass Mobilization Department, dissolving the Foreign Affairs Department, and streamlining the staff of the Party departments.”

With the State, many National Assembly Committees have merged (the National Assembly has reduced 5 affiliated agencies); the Government has reduced 5 ministries and 4 affiliated agencies, and specialized agencies under the provincial People's Committees have also been arranged to ensure consistency with the organization of specialized agencies of the Government (Nghe An reduced 6 departments and branches; reduced 31 rooms and reduced 10 public service units under the department.This reform is a real revolution in the organizational apparatus of the Party and State.

“Never before has this revolution taken place as quickly and decisively as this time. Previous reforms often took a long time, but this time the Central Committee directed implementation in a short period of time, with the motto "only discuss doing, not retreating", Major General Le Van Cuong shared.

Thoroughly grasping the above spirit, many localities have pioneered in implementing the policy of streamlining the apparatus. Nghe An is one of the leading provinces with the motto of drastic and consistent action based on a high spirit of consensus. Immediately after receiving the "order" from the Central Government, on December 5, 2024, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee established a Steering Committee to summarize the implementation of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW, headed by Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee.

Emphasizing that the process of restructuring and organizing the apparatus is a revolution, the Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee clearly affirmed the province's stance: For the revolution to be victorious, there must be sacrifices for the common goal, and there must be unity in perception and action at all levels. Nghe An is the homeland of revolution, so it will certainly carry out the revolution of streamlining the apparatus more thoroughly!

Streamlining the apparatus is not only an urgent requirement, but also a mandatory task for Vietnam to continue to develop sustainably. This is not simply a technical problem, but a reform of historical significance, requiring high political determination, decisive and scientific action and consensus from the whole society. Only then will the State management apparatus be truly strong, operate effectively and serve the people better.

(To be continued)