Having the opportunity to meet and discuss with key leaders at the commune level in Nghe An, everyone expressed their satisfaction when mentioning the "Dien Hong Conference" between the Provincial Standing Committee and the team of Party secretaries, People's Council chairmen, and People's Committee chairmen at the commune level.
In 2018, the first meeting program was held in Vinh City, Comrade Nguyen Dinh Dung - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghi Long Commune (Nghi Loc) was then holding the position of Secretary of the Commune Party Committee. Still remembering the feelings when returning from the program 5 years ago, the leader of Nghi Long Commune confided: After the conference, the key leaders of the commune have a better grasp of the viewpoints and development guidelines of the province, especially feeling the expectations and determination of the provincial leaders with the team of commune-level cadres to "revive" the strength of each locality, contributing to the development of the province; from there, it is seen that it is necessary to further enhance the responsibility of each individual and collective in leadership and direction to meet practical requirements.
Therefore, on the basis of achieving the new rural standards in 2015, Nghi Long commune leaders have been quick to learn new ways, suitable to local conditions, to implement the construction of advanced new rural areas. The main highlight is the thematic Resolution on transforming the structure of crops and livestock in high-tech agricultural production.
The resolution has just been issued, the commune leaders have "rolled up their sleeves" and worked with the people to implement models of growing safe flowers, fruits, and vegetables according to VietGAP standards. A series of agricultural products: Watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, high-quality vegetables... "made in Nghi Long" have been born one after another, supplying the market; making the commune a bright spot with 60 hectares of fields with high income; there are many specialized fields for safe production according to VietGAP, with an average income of 420 to 450 million VND/ha/year...
With a prosperous economy, Nghi Long has more favorable conditions to invest in infrastructure with the motto "The State and the people work together". 10 billion VND has been contributed by the people in just the past 3 years, along with 1,500 tons of cement supported by the province and district to build more than 8km of rural roads, with drainage ditches and covers to ensure environmental hygiene; at the same time, hamlets have repaired and upgraded cultural houses and sports grounds. Along with that, schools, medical stations, concrete ditch systems for production, and smart broadcasting systems have also been invested synchronously with a total cost of 35 billion VND from many mobilized resources. In 2021, Nghi Long was honored to be recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as a commune meeting advanced new rural standards.
Mr. Dang Van Dong - Kim La hamlet, Nghi Long commune, shared: In recent years, the Party Committee and the commune government have made many innovations in leadership and direction; especially, the commune has mobilized people to change crop structure to increase production value and people's income; mobilized and effectively integrated resources to build spacious infrastructure. Local people are very excited, confident and therefore highly unanimous in implementing emulation movements to build Nghi Long into a model new rural commune.
In the mountainous commune of Chau Cuong (Quy Hop), about 10 years ago, it was not only a poor locality, but also had signs of instability. Poor, because the cadres and people still had outdated thinking in economic development. Instability was due to the lack of unity among the cadres in charge, internal disarray, and the commune's movement could not improve. However, now, Chau Cuong has become a bright spot, the "homeland" of the "3 gongs" model: 5am is the dawn gong, 7pm is the gong for studying, and 10pm is the security gong. The lifestyle of this mountainous commune is more orderly and disciplined. The commune was also chosen by the Provincial Police as a point to deploy the movement for the entire people to protect the security of the Fatherland.
During this time, the leaders of Chau Cuong commune are strongly pushing the commune to transform the structure of crops and livestock, implementing 3-crop production in the direction of commodities. 56 hectares of basil essential oil trees have been planted, built into OCOP products. Behind those changes of Chau Cuong commune, there is a significant mark of the Party Secretary of the commune, Luu Xuan Diem, who was once known by the nickname "the old farmer of Chau Cuong". Originally working in Propaganda, then Deputy Head of the District Department of Agriculture and Rural Development before being transferred to work as a commune cadre, holding the position of Chairman of the People's Committee since 2014, then Secretary of the Party Committee of the commune, comrade Diem has been attached to this land for nearly 10 years.
Meeting us again, the "old farmer in Chau Cuong" shared: The success of the meeting and dialogue between the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and the Party Secretaries, Chairmen of the People's Councils and People's Committees at the commune level in the whole province is extremely important in raising awareness; creating consensus and high determination for the grassroots cadres to turn viewpoints and development goals into practical actions. Because the heads of local Party Committees and authorities are the ones closest to reality and most directly involved in people's lives.
Coming to Thanh Chuong district, whenever mentioning the Party Secretary, Chairman of Thanh Lien Commune People's Committee - Phan Ba Ngoc, almost everyone knows. Growing up from the grassroots and now having 13 years of experience as Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, 5 years as Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, he is still full of enthusiasm with the style of "talking, doing", being close and dedicated to work.
Thanh Lien was previously known as a "monoculture" commune, only looking at rice, but until now no one imagined that in this midland and mountainous area of Thanh Chuong, there were 5 types of agricultural production: In addition to rice, there were also 30 hectares of aquaculture; 41 hectares of concentrated fruit trees; 20 hectares of commercial vegetables; 13 hectares of lotus. To achieve that change, everyone had to acknowledge the "leader" role of comrade Phan Ba Ngoc.
Since he was Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee in the early 2000s, comrade Phan Ba Ngoc has mobilized commune cadres to work together to put vegetables into production. The initial models, from long beans and squash, he personally rented a car to bring them to Vinh market to sell directly... In Thanh Lien commune, there is a working style that has now become a tradition, that is, when implementing any policy, commune cadres from the highest position down all work first to promote the movement. That is why the commune leaders here are all real farmers outside of office hours. The family of Party Secretary and Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Phan Ba Ngoc currently has more than 2 hectares of Dien grapefruit, Quang Tien pink grapefruit and grows more than 1/2 hectare of summer-autumn squash. The family of the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Council of the commune, Pham Van Dan, once raised 20-30 sows and 200-300 pigs/litter, combined with growing fruit trees... Then the family of the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, Luu Cong Hiep, raised fattening cows combined with raising 30-50 pigs;... The pioneering and exemplary role of the commune leaders has become the driving force for people to follow and replicate.
Recently, in an exchange with the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee at the 2023 Meeting and Dialogue Program, comrade Phan Ba Ngoc concluded: The policies of the province and district have a wide scope of adjustment, and many localities organize and implement them while the conditions of the communes are not the same. Therefore, to be effective, commune-level leaders must have equal capacity and be open-minded; take advantage of everyone's intelligence and democracy in planning and implementation, and must not be bureaucratic. The implementation process must be carefully researched, and must not copy or impose the general principles of the province or district, but must have a firm grasp of local conditions to have tasks and solutions that are both in line with the policies and highly effective.
Key leaders at the commune level are those who directly direct the building and launching of grassroots movements, and are supervised by the people every day. Therefore, if this team does the right thing, does it well, does it scientifically, methodically, and impartially, they will gain the people's trust, thereby further building their trust in the Party and the State. On the contrary, if they do not do it well, are not methodically, and are not impartial, the people will lose trust in that leader and indirectly reduce their trust in the Party and the State.
In recent times, the fight against corruption and negativity has revealed the “dark side” of public ethics at the commune level in Nghe An. Many leaders, former key leaders and even commune-level civil servants have not only been disciplined by the Party and the State, but have also committed violations to the point of having to be criminally prosecuted.
At the end of 2022, the People's Court of Thanh Chuong district sentenced defendant Le Thi Thu Hien, an agricultural officer of Dai Dong commune, to 15 months of non-custodial reform for abusing her position and power while performing official duties. In the verdict dated February 20, 2023, the Provincial People's Court sentenced defendant Nguyen Xuan Tam, a judicial official of Tan An commune (Tan Ky), to 24 months in prison for abusing her position and power while performing official duties. Earlier this year, the People's Court of Do Luong district sentenced defendant Nguyen Thi Yen, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thai Son commune, to 1 year in prison with a suspended sentence, also for abusing her position and power while performing official duties.
Most recently, on August 18, the Investigation Police Agency, Yen Thanh District Police prosecuted and temporarily detained 4 defendants who were former leaders and officials working at My Thanh commune to investigate the crime of abusing power in performing official duties. The defendants include: Mr. Nguyen Van Nam (born in 1959) - former Secretary of the Party Committee of My Thanh commune; Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh (born in 1956) - former Chairman of the People's Committee of My Thanh commune; Mr. Nguyen Van Thach (born in 1960) - former chief accountant and Mr. Nguyen Vinh Chinh, former cadastral officer of the commune (all 4 people had retired at the time of prosecution);...
The above are just a few of the many cases that have been discovered, prosecuted, investigated, and tried by the authorities recently involving commune-level officials and civil servants. However, those “low notes” are not the main “sound”. Offending officials have been discovered, arrested, investigated, and punished properly, demonstrating the determination of the provincial leadership in eliminating from the ranks, thoroughly handling the violations of “bad apples”, cleaning up the apparatus, and strengthening the trust of officials, party members, and the people. The majority of commune-level officials and civil servants, especially key officials in their positions and roles, are making enormous contributions to the development of the province every day and every hour.
That is reflected in the practical concerns and worries that Party secretaries, People's Council and People's Committee chairmen at the commune level shared and gave advice to the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee in the second meeting and dialogue program held in early August 2023.
Comrade Nguyen Xuan Truong - Head of Local Department I, Central Internal Affairs Commission: Nghe An is the first province where I have had the opportunity to directly introduce the work "Resolutely and persistently fight against corruption and negativity, contributing to building our Party and State increasingly clean and strong" by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to all Party secretaries, People's Council chairmen, and People's Committee chairmen at the commune level. This is a form of propaganda that is both in-depth and comprehensive and has great influence. Through the message of the work, the comrades at the grassroots level must live exemplary lives, fulfill their duties and responsibilities well, and especially must seriously implement measures to prevent and combat corruption and negativity. If there are cadres who commit violations to the extent that they must be disciplined, they must be seriously disciplined to ensure deterrence and education for cadres and party members. Only then will the communication messages from the work turn into a practical force that goes into life in the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity at the grassroots level.
