Roll call of ministries and localities that 'ignore' reports on anti-waste

“Implementation of policies and laws on practicing thrift and combating waste in the 2016-2021 period” is one of the two supreme supervision topics of the National Assembly in 2022 and, as National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue has repeatedly noted, has received great attention from public opinion and voters because it is directly related to the human, material and financial resources of the country.

Basically, the monitoring is conducted in two steps. First, the ministries and branches report according to the requirements of the general outline, then the Monitoring Team selects a number of ministries and localities to work with and conduct direct surveys to evaluate, clarify addresses, and "speak with evidence". It is worth mentioning that the deadline has long passed but the Monitoring Team has not yet received reports from many ministries, branches and localities.

The monitoring delegation led by Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong worked with a number of ministries and branches. Photo: National Assembly

Reporting to the National Assembly Standing Committee at the 9th Session on March 24, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phu Ha - Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, Deputy Head of the Supervisory Delegation said that as of March 23, 2022, the Supervisory Delegation had not received reports from 32 ministries, central agencies, 10 provincial People's Councils, 9 provincial People's Committees, 2 state-owned corporations and groups. "The quality of the reports does not meet the requirements of the Supervisory Delegation, the content of many reports is very sketchy."

At that time, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue noted that supervision must be focused and key, identify addresses and assign responsibilities clearly, so "require responsibility for those who do not report or report incorrectly, but not for those who refuse to report."

Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man also raised the question: “Why does this ministry, sector, and locality report while others do not? What is the responsibility and when will the report be fully, accurately, and comprehensively compiled for the Supervisory Team? Where progress is not guaranteed or no report is made, there must be measures to deal with it. If the report does not meet the requirements, it must be supplemented and corrected with clear and transparent data, not just reported for the sake of it.”

More than 10 days later, information from the Supervisory Team shows that, up to now, it has been nearly 2 months past the deadline, despite many documents urging and reminding, but there are still 26 ministries, branches, central agencies and 7 localities that have not sent reports. Meanwhile, information from the report will be the basis for the Supervisory Team to have sufficient and valid evidence, comprehensively and objectively evaluate the implementation of policies and laws on practicing thrift and combating waste.

Currently, reports are not only slow, but also have sketchy content, without specific data, showing a lack of strict awareness in complying with legal regulations and is one of the causes leading to inadequacies and shortcomings in practicing thrift and fighting waste.

Notably, the list of 26 ministries, branches, central agencies and 7 localities that have not submitted reports has been made public. In addition, the Monitoring Team requested ministries, branches, localities and units to clarify the responsibility of their leaders in not submitting reports, and resolutely and strictly handle violations of the Law on Practicing Thrift, Combating Wastefulness and late submission of reports.

The National Assembly is determined to correctly assess the situation, explain the causes, and from there find effective solutions, creating resources for development because "loss and waste are even greater than corruption", "compared to rich countries, we see how wasteful we are", "we must consider fighting waste as a great responsibility".

Based on the proposal of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, the National Assembly Standing Committee proposed to screen and select a list of major violations of thrift practice and anti-wastefulness to serve as a warning, deterrent and create a social effect; avoiding general statements. And the "name-calling" of ministries, branches and localities that refuse to report also demonstrates the "pointing out the address" viewpoint that the National Assembly has repeatedly emphasized./.