Administrative discipline and public ethics

(Baonghean) - After organizing a surprise inspection, the People's Committee of Nghe An province directed sectors and localities to continue inspecting the implementation of Directive 17 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee on strengthening discipline and administrative order in agencies and units in the area.

Through inspection, it is shown that Directive 17 has created positive changes in the operations of state agencies. Officials, civil servants and public employees comply with administrative discipline more seriously; the situation of coming late, leaving early, leaving work during office hours, doing private work at the agency, etc. has been gradually overcome; in particular, the regulation of not drinking alcohol during working hours and lunch breaks has been well implemented by many agencies and units.

But through the inspection of the implementation of Directive 17, there is an issue that needs to be clarified, which is the relationship between administrative discipline and public ethics. Strengthening discipline and administrative discipline will contribute to improving public ethics, and only by improving public ethics can discipline and administrative discipline be ensured. But in reality, not all cases of compliance with administrative discipline reflect public ethics. Many civil servants go to work on time, sit in their offices for 8 hours a day, and do not show any violations of labor discipline. But in reality, the quality and efficiency of work are low for many reasons: limited capacity, lack of creative thinking ability, indifference to collective work... This is the type of civil servant who "goes to work with an umbrella in the morning and carries it back at night", on the surface strictly following administrative discipline but in reality cannot get the job done.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called this type of civil servant "good to have or not have".

There is a group of people who are very difficult to detect, which are civil servants who, when performing their duties, have taken advantage of their roles and positions to gain personal benefits. With sophisticated calculations of profit, these civil servants always appear to strictly comply with administrative discipline, and do not violate agency discipline on the surface; hiding themselves under the guise of being always strict, but this type of civil servant often lives opportunistically, has behaviors that discredit the agency, and causes internal disunity. With this type of civil servant, disciplinary inspection and administrative discipline cannot detect and handle it, but stronger measures must be taken such as inspecting and supervising party members, promoting the weapon of criticism and self-criticism.

No one denies the role of discipline and administrative discipline in improving public ethics. Strictly implementing discipline and administrative discipline creates the best environment for each cadre, civil servant and public employee to work effectively and fulfill their responsibilities to the people. Laxing discipline and administrative discipline creates a bad environment for each cadre, civil servant and public employee to follow the path of personal freedom, and public ethics will accordingly deteriorate. It is necessary to recognize that the basic factor that creates public ethics is the conscience and responsibility of each cadre, civil servant and public employee towards the people; avoid implementing discipline and administrative discipline in a "formal" manner.

The relationship between administrative discipline and public ethics must be viewed dialectically. Many cases that occur in practice must be resolved reasonably and emotionally. For civil servants who comply with administrative discipline in a formal way, just to avoid criticism, but in reality work ineffectively, it is necessary to review from capacity to sense of responsibility. It is impossible to prolong the situation of turning state agencies into places where civil servants "carry an umbrella in the morning and carry it back in the evening" to receive salaries and other benefits. For civil servants who are capable and can do their jobs, but have "disabilities" that make the implementation of administrative discipline not really strict, there must be appropriate educational measures, avoiding the situation where administrative discipline "binds" the creativity of civil servants in the working process. For civil servants who have degenerated and used administrative discipline as a cover to cover up their profit motives, they must be exposed and resolutely dealt with.

Thus, Directive 17 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee is the “stick” to establish discipline and administrative discipline in state agencies. However, on the basis of discipline and administrative discipline, it is necessary to build public ethics for each cadre, civil servant and public employee in order to fully implement Directive 17 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee.

Tran Hong Co