“Easy for others, easy for me” - The danger when selecting officials

Assessing the actual capacity of cadres to purify and clean up the apparatus

Speaking at the conclusion of the recent Government conference with localities, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested: We cannot allow the situation to be that it is okay to not do anything or that it is okay to not do anything well. We cannot tolerate the indifference, lack of responsibility, and lack of effort of officials. We need a better and fairer mechanism to evaluate officials.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ngo Thanh Can (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Public Administration) talks about this content.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ngo Thanh Can. (Photo: Lao Dong)

Afraid to point out officials who are not up to the job

PV: What do you think is the rate of cadres working in the style of "going to work with an umbrella in the morning and coming home with an umbrella in the evening"?

Mr. Ngo Thanh Can:I remember, about 20 years ago, a leader of a unit when talking about the capacity of civil servants commented: 1/3 work well, 1/3 work half-heartedly, 1/3 work poorly. Recently, through statements, it shows that the numbers are similar.

Many leaders believe that about 1/3 of the staff can do the job, more than 1/3 are exhausted. Through observation and working with many units, we see that the team of civil servants with the capacity to do the job still has many problems. Even those working at high levels show that the cultural framework and necessary knowledge to do the main job are still lacking.

Regarding the implementation team, in addition to practical capacity, quality and character are also issues. The opinions expressed recently are consistent with current reality. However, these are just numbers without any assessment, especially assessments from independent agencies. We strongly support independent investigations to have a common view on this issue.

PV:Why are there so many “umbrella-carrying” teams? Obviously, the leaders see which cadres are incompetent but find it difficult to “name and shame” them? Meanwhile, at the end of the year, most of the evaluations show that they have completed their tasks well, sir?

Mr. Ngo Thanh Can: To be frank, work efficiency is low because many people do not know how to work. When selecting people to appoint to positions, many people often do not have the appropriate capacity but we still hire them.

In addition to capacity, it is clear that there are relationships here or things that they borrow from the process, from the recruitment and evaluation process to put into public service, so we cannot do it.

For example, when it comes to pointing out who 1/3 of the people who cannot do their jobs are, everyone is reluctant to point out. Meanwhile, the evaluations submitted by organizations and units show that only nearly 1% are not working. That means, when summarizing and evaluating units, all are good at completing their tasks, excellently performing their tasks, and emulation fighters, while those who cannot do their jobs are nowhere to be seen. And when asked, everyone is ready to say that only 1/3 of the staff can do their jobs.

PV:The first reform is to eliminate all officials recruited based on the criteria of "descendants and money". "Shooting stones at your own feet" must also be done, but this seems difficult and sensitive, so very few leaders can do it, don't you think?

Mr. Ngo Thanh Can:If it were easy, people would have done it, but here it is difficult and unlikely to be done. Because many people have complained that if they did this, they themselves might have been eliminated from the job.

Relationships have been deeply ingrained in every corner of the work process, personnel evaluation, and each unit, not only in the province, district, and commune, but also in many units where relatives, families, etc. all work in the same agency, so how to resolve this?

The ancients used to have rules that leaders were not allowed to return to their hometowns, officials were not allowed to marry, intermarry, or become in-laws in the places they governed; they were not allowed to use people from the same hometown as servants... then the civil service could be clean.

We often talk about the way to do it, which is to have relatively strict regulations, especially the code of conduct and public ethics, and to evaluate those who violate it and they will be eliminated. There must be sanctions to enforce immediately. Now, how can we evaluate who is the son of a high-ranking official but does well and who is the son of a high-ranking official but does not do well?

Recently, we proposed that we need a unit to conduct independent assessments, then take steps to both streamline the payroll and select talented people for public service.

Building an environment for talented people to develop their abilities

PV:According to you, what is the mechanism to monitor whether leaders evaluate officials objectively and honestly?

Mr. Ngo Thanh Can:For many years, we have put into the system people with limited working ability but deep relationships with leaders.

The civil service itself, when making these assessments, often relies on standards and methods of voting and evaluating each other, so the process is correct but the assessment content is not necessarily correct.

There must be regulations, statutes, and different laws to review and evaluate this team, especially based on work efficiency and results achieved during the years of work. In addition, the processes must be public and transparent; responsibility and authority must be assigned to the leader and sanctions must be imposed on this issue.

For example, you can appoint these people, but if they make mistakes or are incompetent, you will be held fully responsible. Especially the regulations on duty performance and public ethics, if officials cannot do their jobs, they will be punished. Furthermore, the regulations must be clear, because many times the regulations are general, one thing overlaps another, which often makes people's evaluations distorted.

PV:According to you, how can we eliminate weak officials but still encourage talented people?

Mr. Ngo Thanh Can:Firstly, it is necessary to perfect the system of legal documents and move towards a rule of law state, where everyone respects and is treated according to the law.

All the things that are operating may seem redundant or weak to us, but if we filter and eliminate them, we often feel pain and bitterness, so most people tend to keep them. Many people often say, “it’s easy for others, easy for us”, if we help others, they will help us, which is also harmful to the civil service, and we cannot filter out the right people.

Second, we must create an environment where talented people feel that they are being developed and used. In addition, we must also develop policies so that those who are not able to do their jobs feel happy when they leave, or those who dare to leave their positions to do other jobs. For example, there are places that spend a lot of money to encourage cadres to retire early so that other, more talented people can replace them, but the policy here must be clear and encourage them to retire.

These are issues we need to pay more attention to in the process of both renewing and cleaning up, implementing good procedures to retain talented people and gradually eliminate those who are no longer suitable./.