Group interests monopolize personnel work

The case of Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh is typical of how interest groups are monopolizing some aspects of personnel work.Professor Phan Xuan Son, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, talked to the press about this content.

Prof. Dr. Phan Xuan Son, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

Staff is the root of all work

PV:Uncle Ho once said: Cadres are the root of all things. To build a creative and active Government, how much attention should be paid to cadre work, sir?

Professor Phan Xuan Son:Cadre work is the most important work because it is the "root work of the Party". If the "root work" is not done well, the "branch work" and "top work" will also not be good and not sustainable. Our Party has a comprehensive leadership role in cadre work. The Party leads the State, so the Party must prepare a team of cadres to hold positions in the system of State agencies.

To have a good cadre team, the Party must lead the cadre work well in all stages: discovery, selection, training, use, and treatment. If we do not do well in just one of these stages, we will have a weak cadre team. When the cadres are weak, the work of the Party, the State, and the Front will also be weak, and then the people will no longer believe in the cadres, the Party, and the State. When the people's trust is lost, everything can be lost.

PV:Resolution 4 of the 11th Central Committee clearly stated: A significant number of cadres and party members, including those in leadership and management positions, including some senior cadres, have degraded in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle. In your opinion, what is the cause of this situation in cadre work?

Professor Phan Xuan Son: Resolution 4 of the 11th Central Committee has recognized and assessed that a significant number of cadres and party members have degraded in political ideology and lifestyle. Documents of the 12th Party Congress have also clearly pointed out that the risk of corruption has not been pushed back, and even has complicated developments.

There are many reasons for the above situation, including our inadequate awareness of personnel work and the unsynchronized implementation of all stages of personnel work. During the 11th tenure, our Party has taken a number of specific and new measures compared to previous tenures in planning, training, fostering, using, rotating, and evaluating cadres, etc.

However, compared to the practical needs of the cause of innovation as well as the cause of building and defending the Fatherland, it can be affirmed that the work of cadres still has many shortcomings, and is still not on par with the requirements of the practical situation in terms of knowledge, skills, moral character and lifestyle.

There are two issues that need to be strongly reformed: evaluating cadres based on their capacity, talent and contribution; and enjoying and promoting according to that capacity, talent and contribution. Only in this way can we avoid negative aspects in cadre work, avoid the problem of “running”, from running for degrees, running for positions, running for power, running for crimes… Only then can we choose talented people, not just relatives, and ensure fairness in cadre work.

Signs of interest groups in the Trinh Xuan Thanh case

PV:Be humanthingDespite the fact that the Vietnam Oil and Gas Construction Joint Stock Corporation suffered a loss of nearly 3,300 billion VND, Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh was still promoted and transferred to important positions in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and then became Vice Chairman of Hau Giang province. What do you think about this phenomenon?

Professor Phan Xuan Son: The case of Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh is not an isolated phenomenon, but a typical phenomenon of personnel work. This is related to many weaknesses of personnel work. In particular, the biggest weakness today is the manipulation of personnel work by interest groups.

Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh is an individual related to a certain interest group. That group is a powerful group, people with a lot of power, a lot of money, and a lot of knowledge about the personnel work process. Only then can they bring a person who is weak in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle; weak in professional capacity (causing a loss of more than 3,000 billion) through the stages of the personnel work process and be promoted like that.

It can be said that currently, not only Mr. Thanh but there are hundreds, thousands of such characters that we have not discovered or have discovered but have not been able to handle.

PV:Why do people still claim that "problematic" appointments and transfers are "following the correct procedure" in cases of "problematic" appointments and transfers, sir?

Professor Phan Xuan Son: Our process is quite strict, but any process can have its “loopholes”. The problem is that “interest groups” and individuals who take advantage of it have found ways to “bypass” the human resources system while it still “follows the correct process”. In other words, some steps and stages can be done “according to the correct process” but the form is not the substance. Such as the process of taking a vote of confidence.

As we know, the number of votes of confidence must be over 50% to be trusted, but no one can control the process of taking the vote of confidence. Voters can be influenced by interests, emotions, relatives, fellow countrymen... people can even spend money to buy votes of confidence.

Although our current process of appointing officials is quite strict, it does not mean that there are no limitations. There is still room for arbitrariness and talents can be overlooked.

PV:Attacking interest groups is not easy, but recently General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong personally "beat the drum" to attack interest groups and corruption, showing political determination that there are no forbidden zones and no individuals are excluded, don't you think so, sir?

Professor Phan Xuan Son: In fighting negativity, as well as preventing corruption and waste... our Party advocates that there are no forbidden areas. The world's experience in fighting corruption and negativity is to fight from top to bottom, from inside to outside, that is, to fight the important areas first, and the unimportant areas later.

Thus, to fight against negativity and group interests, we must first fight from high-level agencies and then down to lower levels, from the Central level, down to the province, district, and commune.

The motto, tactics, and strategy are like that, but implementing them must be step by step and must be strict, to avoid making mistakes, doing injustice, and losing internal solidarity. The General Secretary has publicly stated many times that there are no forbidden zones, no avoidance, but to do it continuously, persistently, resolutely, and carefully.

PV:According to you, should we review the cases of "children and grandchildren" who have not yet sat in a "warm seat" but have moved from one place to another to get promoted?

Professor Phan Xuan Son:Personnel work requires regular review and for all subjects. Currently, we are promoting the implementation of the Resolution of the 11th Central Committee, Resolution of the 12th Congress, the fight against ideological and political degradation, moral and lifestyle degradation, against negative phenomena, group interests, corruption, waste... so the review in personnel work needs to be more frequent. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to cases that the people and public opinion reflect. The people care about and are very close to the cadres, so when the people see a problem, they will speak up immediately.

Therefore, when listening to people, we must review and see how right or wrong they are. Cases of "children of high-ranking officials" being promoted too quickly need to be urgently reviewed and made public and transparent for public understanding.

PV:Recently speaking at the first meeting of the new Government, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc sent out the message that the recruitment exam is to find talented people, not relatives; we must find a way to ensure that the children of farmers, workers, and the poor all have the opportunity to study, advance, and even become leaders of the country in the future. In the context of the controversy over personnel work, what is your comment on this?

Professor Phan Xuan Son:In the history of the nation, especially the prosperous dynasties, the talented people were highly respected because "talents are the vital energy of the nation. When the vital energy is prosperous, the nation is prosperous". Whenever, whenever this is forgotten, the nation will surely decline. When the nation declines, the people will be miserable, there will be internal turmoil, foreign invasion, and the ruling force will not be able to protect its own interests. Therefore, respecting talented people is a key point that is traditional and in line with the development trend of the world.

The historical experience of our nation is to respect and select talented people from all social classes and regions. Through examinations, any child from any family, any social class, any class, if passing the examinations, will become an official. Examinations are a very fundamental traditional way to select talented people in our country. We must be consistent and respect this tradition.

Currently, we have an equal policy for all ethnic groups and localities in training cadres. There is a priority policy for disadvantaged areas, mountainous areas, remote areas, and ethnic minority children so that everyone can participate in studying, taking exams, and advancing.

PV:According to you, how can we have a team of cadres who know how to care for the people and truly work for the people?

Professor Phan Xuan Son:To have a team of cadres who know how to care for the people, truly for the people, we must strictly follow the teachings of our predecessors as well as the teachings of President Ho Chi Minh, which is to consider cadres as the root of all work, cadre work is the root work of the Party, and must link cadre work with the people. Cadres who care for the people must be elected by the people, supervised by the people, and evaluated by the people. It is necessary to innovate the process of selecting, training, using, and treating cadres.

Each stage needs to have a vision of the times, must clearly see the needs of society in terms of personnel work, from there recruit talented people, use talented people and have policies to treat talented people appropriately. Besides, it is necessary to prevent the negative phenomenon of buying positions, buying power, buying positions, degrees... If we do so, equal opportunities will come to everyone.

If we carry out these steps seriously, we will certainly have a team of cadres that is equal to the demands of the situation, equal to the nation, and equal to the expectations of the people.

PV:Thank you sir.

According to VOV