'It is necessary to immediately remove officials who are afraid of making mistakes and do not dare to do anything from the system'

The story of a number of officials and party members being afraid of responsibility in performing public duties continued to heat up the parliament at the recent 3rd session of the 15th National Assembly. Delegate Mai Thi Phuong Hoa (Nam Dinh delegation), Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee, shared the mentality of many officials, saying, "Nowadays, when doing anything, they are afraid of making mistakes. After finishing, they do not know whether they are wrong or not. When they are wrong, they do not know where they are wrong. Even doing nothing can lead to mistakes."

Delegate Mai Thi Phuong Hoa - Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee (NA Delegation of Nam Dinh province) spoke at the National Assembly hall on June 2. (Photo: NA)

This is not a new story. Previously, at the 2nd session, Deputy Head of the National Assembly's Petition Committee, Mr. Hoang Anh Cong, a delegate from Thai Nguyen province, also raised the story that in many localities during the epidemic prevention period, many places were afraid to purchase medical equipment, machinery, and supplies because of fear of making mistakes.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc also warned about this situation and called it the “virus of fear of responsibility”. In the regular Government meeting in May and the first 5 months of the new year, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also pointed out the difficulties the country is facing, among many causes, there is a subjective cause that some agencies, units, and leaders have not been really resolute and proactive in solving work according to their functions, tasks, and powers.

Expressing his opinion on this story, Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo, former Standing Member of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee, said that those officials should be removed from the State apparatus.

Officials who are afraid of making mistakes should put them aside.

PV:What do you think when many officials have the mentality of "fearing making mistakes in everything they do, even doing nothing can lead to mistakes..."?

Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo: It is good for officials to know fear, so there will not be hundreds of officials being disciplined and prosecuted; but if they are so afraid that they do not dare to do anything because they are afraid of being wrong, afraid of responsibility; do not dare to do anything because they do not know whether it is right or wrong, then those officials should be removed from the State apparatus.

When receiving a task, there is no one who does not promise to devote all their efforts to it. The Law on Civil Servants and specialized laws also clearly stipulate the responsibilities, duties and powers of civil servants in general, but it is unacceptable for officials to say they are afraid of responsibility, say "doing nothing can lead to mistakes", or "don't know where they did wrong". 100% of officials before being promoted to management have studied and graduated from an administrative management course, so officials only need to work for the people, serve the interests of the people, how can they do wrong?

In the fight against corruption, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong once stated very clearly, “If anyone feels hindered or discouraged, they should step aside and let someone else do it.” Similarly, in the performance of public duties, I think it is also necessary to thoroughly understand this message of the General Secretary.

It is not by chance that a volleyball player is transferred to become a soccer player, which means that those athletes have grown up in that field. The story here, in my opinion, is intentionally ignorant.

Officials who do not dare to do or remain silent, that is, lack of responsibility, can be understood as not doing or not doing according to the provisions of the law, not because they do not understand the law. The law here is the provisions on functions, tasks, procedures, and tasks that must be done, which are expressed in legal documents, and are not separate from their functions, tasks, and powers. All legal documents have provisions on the functions, tasks, and powers of each position, moreover, you grow up from the grassroots.

The root cause is still the ethics of the cadres.

PV:There have been many opinions pointing out the cause of this story. What do you personally think is the root cause?

Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo: The root of this story comes from the story of unethical civil servants who take advantage of their positions and powers to protect, profit from, and do illegal things. You did something wrong, so you are afraid.

I agree with the view of journalist Nhi Le, former Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Communist Magazine, that everything comes from poor ethics. It is true that no one can understand everything, but that does not mean that there are no laws to regulate and no specialized departments to help. The root of the problem is the backyard, the group interests. In the case of Mr. Nguyen Quang Tuan, it is said that he is a doctor with no expertise in economic law, so where were his deputies, and what were the financial and accounting departments that assisted him?

Another reason, in my opinion, is that people do not dare to do things and are afraid of showing that they do not meet the standards of qualifications, abilities, expertise, and professionalism, but because they are so eager for fame, not all, but some people have run to achieve that title, so when they are appointed, they do not know what to say and have to stay silent, which leads to the story of subordinates manipulating.

Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo - former Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on National Defense and Security

PV:What will be the future of an agency, unit, or locality whose leaders are afraid of making mistakes and do not dare to develop?

Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo: This is a very alarming situation. At the agency level, more broadly at the local level, even the whole country, if every cadre is afraid of making mistakes and dares not do anything, then where will the future of those agencies, units, and localities be when the leadership is stagnant and stagnant? In reality, although not all, many cadres when rotated to the local level for 2-3 years do nothing, do not handle violations, do not propose anything new, try not to clash with anyone, and safely withdraw.

Such cadres will cause great obstacles to the development of society. We have a legal system on organization and operation, and there are also very strict regulations on operations, but the story behind it is that group interests manipulate, so some advice is ignored.

Group interests are exchanged on the golf course.

PV:There are opinions that the reason why officials are afraid of making mistakes and do not dare to do things is because of the mechanism. At this time, the mechanism may be right, but at another time, it may be wrong?

Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo: The nature of the policy mechanism is correct, but what is not correct is that people take advantage of the mechanism to do shady things to serve their own interests and group interests.

Group interests are now exchanged on golf courses, and the sponsorship of officials through VIP tickets and membership cards also comes from there. Many officials who go there are served food and entertainment, but they have to pay back with projects. If you want to give to one person, of course you have to leave the others out. That is the cause and condition for committing crimes.

Therefore, we cannot blame the mechanism. If it were the mechanism, why do many civil servants accept poverty rather than corruption? We cannot say that they do not understand the law, but they have ethics and self-respect. Meanwhile, there are high-ranking officials with great power who have no integrity, so how can they do the right thing?

PV:From the stories of many officials recently, many opinions say that in our country, whenever someone is seen to be good at their profession, they promote them to management positions. The appointers think so and the appointees also like it, so that's why this situation happens?

Mr. Nguyen Mai Bo: In reality, the story of party members being thought to be able to do everything, so they assign cadres to work against their professional capacity, is true. For example, full-time National Assembly deputies of some Committees do not have knowledge about the activities of the National Assembly, nor do they have the courage to work full-time at the Committee, leading to many people not saying a word for 5 years because they do not know anything to say.

Therefore, the story of thinking that party members can do everything needs to be reconsidered, the arrangement must be appropriate to their level of knowledge and ability. For example, I am an expert in the judiciary but I am assigned to work in finance, I am responsible for all debts and gains. Or those who are experts in finance but are assigned to work as judges; a person who is involved in the movement at the Association but is assigned to work as Secretary of a locality, does he have enough knowledge to do the job?

The way of appointment does not focus on expertise, which can easily lead to mistakes due to lack of professional knowledge, because the person with expertise cannot make decisions, while the person with the right to make decisions does not have expertise. In our country, the appointment of officials without expertise is not rare.

PV:Thank you sir.