Nghe An: Tightening administrative discipline, improving public service ethics

(Baonghean) - Discipline, administrative discipline, and professional ethics in public service activities are important factors to improve the efficiency of operations at agencies and units. It is also a measure for people to exercise their supervisory function on the attitude and working order of cadres, civil servants, and public employees...

Sad stories…

Recently, a number of violations related to ethics and responsibility in performing public duties of officials and civil servants, including officials and party members, occurring in the province have had a negative impact on public opinion and caused a loss of trust among the people.

A typical case is the incident on August 14, 2016, at the private home of Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son (born in 1962) - Deputy Head of the Urban Regulation Team of Nghi Phu Commune (Vinh City) in Hamlet 15, the police caught him red-handed accepting bribes from 7 people who had street vendors in front of the gate of Nghe An General Hospital. At the police station, Mr. Son admitted that from November 2015 until now, he has received monthly money from about 20 people doing business in front of the hospital gate to avoid handling them.

Resolving administrative procedures for people at the one-stop department of the Department of Transport.

Or the case of Mr. Le Viet Sy - former Chairman of the People's Committee, Nguyen Huu Sam - cadastral officer of Nghia Thinh commune (Nghia Dan) were prosecuted for embezzlement of property. Originating from the citizen's complaint, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district established a team to verify the incident and concluded: During the auction of Co Voi land, the People's Committee of the district recovered 5,195 m2 of public land from the People's Committee of Nghia Thinh commune and compensated and supported the amount of 140,265,000 VND.

Upon receiving the compensation, Mr. Sy and Mr. Sam took advantage of their positions and powers to embezzle the money without paying it into the State budget. After the investigation, Nghia Dan District Police initiated a criminal case and prosecuted the two men.

In Thanh Son resettlement commune (Thanh Chuong), at the end of April 2016, dozens of families were "trapped" by the Vietnam Consumer Union Joint Stock Company using the trick of participating in purchasing goods, collecting billions of dong. But the sad thing is that some officials with positions (including the vice chairman of the People's Council and the vice chairman in charge of culture) of the commune were the ones who "led" people into the multi-level spiral. Although these officials were later disciplined, it still had a negative impact on the reputation of the Party Committee and the government towards the people...

Not handled seriously…

The actual inspection of Directive 17 also shows that many problems exist in the awareness of performing public duties and performing assigned duties and responsibilities. There are still some cadres and civil servants who do not strictly comply with working hours (being late, absent without clear reasons, playing games during working hours...) which occurred in Kim Lien and Nam Hung communes (Nam Dan). Or at the People's Committee of Tan Ky town, there are many violations in implementing Directive 17, leading cadres and professional civil servants lack the spirit of cooperation with the provincial inspection team.

A phenomenon that is often reported by citizens and businesses when directly dealing with administrative procedures is that civil servants guide and explain work to citizens in a roundabout and confusing way. When it is necessary to supplement documents, there is no specific guidance, forcing citizens to go back and forth many times, many civil servants have an attitude of extortion, holding documents for personal gain...

In some areas such as health, budget revenue and expenditure, land, and environment, there is still a high percentage of civil servants whose performance is assessed as not being good. The level of satisfaction with the requirements of the people and businesses is still low. Assessment of public service ethics: 86.1% of opinions reflect that civil servants still cause difficulties, inconveniences, and harassment for people and businesses when they come to do transactions at state administrative agencies at all levels. This situation is one of the reasons why the annual provincial competitiveness index is often only ranked average or at the top of the good category (46th in 2013, 28th in 2014, 32nd in 2015).

Tighten discipline and administrative order

Based on the general situation, in recent times, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have focused on directing strongly to create positive changes in the implementation of discipline and administrative discipline through the issuance of specific documents, typically Directive 17 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee on strengthening discipline and administrative discipline in agencies and units in the province. During the implementation process, Nghe An has linked the implementation of Directive 17 with the policies of the Party and the State such as: Directive No. 05 dated January 31, 2008 of the Prime Minister "On improving the efficiency of using working hours of cadres, civil servants and public employees"; Decree 34 dated May 17, 2011 of the Government regulating disciplinary action against civil servants; Project 07 of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee on enhancing exemplary behavior, combating conservatism, waiting and relying on cadres and party members.

Many agencies and units focus on improving the quality of administrative management for cadres, civil servants and public employees by applying modern technology such as: Department of Planning and Investment applies electronic swipe card technology; Department of Information and Communications uses fingerprint scanning technology...

To raise awareness and responsibility of officials and civil servants, the province also decided to innovate inspection methods. Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee established an interdisciplinary inspection team to conduct surprise inspections at units and localities and re-inspection at units that have been inspected.

Through the strict implementation of Directive 17, the awareness of cadres and civil servants has been raised, and the activities of many localities and agencies have become more organized. For example, implementing the recommendations of the Inspection and Supervision Team of Directive 17, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Dan district issued a disciplinary decision in the form of a warning to 2 cadres and civil servants of Nam Hung commune, and Tan Ky district also directed the review of the collective leadership and related civil servants of Tan Ky town. At the same time, the working style and manners at this unit have been rectified, choosing this as a focal point for directing the building of a comprehensively strong political system.

Discussing this issue, comrade Nguyen Lam Son - Standing Deputy Secretary of Nam Dan District Party Committee said: In order to promptly rectify and overcome limitations and weaknesses, the District Party Committee requires all cadres and party members to commit to implementing Directive 17 and Directive 28 of the District Party Committee Standing Committee. At the same time, the implementation of the directive must be linked to emulation, evaluation and classification of organizations, individual cadres, party members and civil servants. If any organizations or individuals are found to be violating the directive, they will be strictly punished.

Checking Directive 17 in Nam Dan town, archive photo

According to comrade Le Dinh Ly - Deputy Director of the Department of Home Affairs: To improve the responsibility, ethics of public service and especially the spirit of service of cadres and civil servants, first of all, it is necessary to assign responsibility to the head. Thereby, promoting the role of directing and leading the unit so that cadres, party members and civil servants can seriously implement. In addition, it is necessary to properly assess the quality and qualifications of cadres, civil servants and public employees as a basis for arranging, transferring and assigning personnel suitable for the job position. Resolutely streamline the number of civil servants and public employees with weak capacity, lacking a sense of responsibility, and failing to complete assigned tasks in accordance with the provisions of law.

Regularly strengthen the work of directing, urging, inspecting, supervising, and reminding civil servants to strictly comply with discipline and administrative discipline. Because in the end, strictly implementing discipline and administrative discipline is to create the best environment for each cadre, civil servant, and public employee to work effectively and fulfill their responsibilities to the Party and the people.

Khanh Ly - Thanh Le