It is difficult to find civil servants who do not complete their tasks to streamline the payroll.

Many local ministries and branches have stated that it is difficult to find civil servants who do not fulfill their duties to put them on the payroll streamlining list.

It is not until now that the story of the budget burden for the administrative apparatus in our country has been mentioned. Many times experts have warned: No budget source can support such a large and cumbersome administrative apparatus as it is today.

The public still remembers the story at the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Hai Duong province in 2016, out of a total of 46 positions, there were 44 people holding the position of deputy head of department or higher, as a typical example of the current cumbersome and cumbersome administrative apparatus. That cumbersome apparatus entails negative consequences. That is, the budget must spend a huge amount of money to pay salaries for this team. The surplus positions also lead to the situation of a group of civil servants "going to work with an umbrella in the morning and returning with an umbrella in the afternoon", with some opinions saying that this number accounts for up to 30%.

Many ministries and local agencies have stated that it is difficult to find civil servants who do not complete their tasks to put them on the payroll streamlining list. (Illustration photo, source Dan Tri)

Another worrying consequence comes from the question that everyone understands: "Working for the state has low salary but many people still want to rush in". In reality, is it possible to streamline the administrative apparatus?

Mr. Phan Trung Ly, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee, commented: “The reduction is very small, it is basically an increase and it is not possible to streamline. Now we keep talking about streamlining the payroll but in reality it is very difficult. Can Decree 108 of the Government on streamlining and restructuring the staff be implemented? Almost no agency can do it. Mostly those who have reached retirement age are dismissed. But without any restructuring, the number of cadres is still the same, those who cannot do the job are still in the apparatus. If we cannot change, if we cannot transform, the apparatus will age, become ineffective and inefficient.”

Looking back over the past 10 years, from the central to local levels, there have been 3 times of streamlining the payroll. However, in reality, the payroll has not only not decreased, but on the contrary, in some places the apparatus has become bloated and ineffective. Most recently, the Politburo issued Resolution 39 on streamlining the payroll and restructuring the staff and civil servants, setting a target of reducing at least 10% of the total payroll by 2021. However, after more than 1 year of implementation, the total payroll nationwide has increased by more than 11,000 people. Only 2 ministries requested to reduce the payroll, which are the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Home Affairs, while in 63 provinces and cities, there are 11 localities that not only did not streamline but also used 7,951 more payrolls than the assigned payrolls, typically in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Binh Thuan...

So why does the payroll increase as it is streamlined? Many experts believe that it is because the selection of cadres and civil servants is done easily, not according to the general plan. In addition, the evaluation of cadres and civil servants, which is an important premise for streamlining the payroll, is currently a weak link. The evaluation lacks quantitative content because the job position building work has not been done well to know exactly which position needs how many cadres, and how to calculate to ensure the specific workload. Many ministries and local branches point out that it is difficult to find civil servants who do not complete their tasks to put them on the payroll streamlining list, leading to misunderstandings about the subjects. 86.25% of the subjects on the payroll streamlining list are actually cadres who only have 2 to 3 years of work left before retirement.

Mr. Ngo Duy Hieu, National Assembly delegate of Hanoi city, said: "The important issue now is to choose which subjects need to be streamlined. Because in reality, there are people who come to the agency and cannot do anything, and can even cause damage, ruin, and harm. Meanwhile, many cadres work actively but they are outside the apparatus."

Streamlining the payroll is a sensitive issue, related to the interests of more than 3.5 million civil servants and public employees today. For this process to be effective, there needs to be synchronous coordination between all levels and sectors. In the long term, it is necessary to promote socialization, reduce the number of people receiving salaries from the state budget, and create more jobs for social workers.

Currently, implementing Resolution 39 of the Politburo on streamlining the payroll and restructuring the staff, some public service units in ministries and local branches have been rearranged in a more streamlined direction. Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan said: “Innovating the management and financial mechanisms, reorganizing the system of public service units, including promoting decentralization in management and finance; proposing to switch from fees to prices so that public service units can be financially autonomous; studying the gradual elimination of subsidies for public service units; treating public service units and private service units equally to encourage competition; at the same time, having a development planning orientation for public service units in the direction of planning on standards and conditions for development and in the direction of the State gradually reducing expenditures for public service units, moving towards socialization and granting autonomy to public service units”.

In order to avoid worrying about the more streamlined, the more bloated the apparatus, perhaps it is time to take stronger, more effective and more synchronous measures. The policy of innovating the management mechanism, financial mechanism, and reorganizing the system of public service units is very important. In addition, it is necessary to encourage socialization, give autonomy to public service units, promote the role and responsibility of leaders in streamlining the payroll, and use cadres effectively, which must be considered a particularly important solution. Only then can we effectively implement the major policy of the Party and State to streamline the payroll and improve the quality of cadres and civil servants./.

According to VOV