Nghia Dan expands the number of village heads who are Party members.

(Baonghean) - Recognizing the outstanding effectiveness of appointing village heads who are Party members, Nghia Dan district has been focusing on expanding this practice. However, practical experience has revealed some difficulties that the locality needs to address in the future.

Based on a thorough analysis of the practical advantages, the locality has recently determined that the village head – the "extended arm" of the government at the village level – must be a Party member, ideally also serving as the deputy secretary of the Party branch, and best of all, the position should be merged with the position of Party branch secretary.

Comrade Vu Ngoc Thao - Head of the Organization Department of Nghia Dan District Party Committee, analyzed: "A village head who is a Party member is more likely to promptly grasp the Party's guidelines and resolutions, and the State's laws, and is more likely to effectively implement the work contents in the residential area."

Furthermore, upon joining the Party, the village head's responsibilities are enhanced, linked to the responsibilities of a Party member, and subject to the evaluation and supervision of the Party branch and Party committee. If the village head is not yet a Party member, they must be "specially invited" to Party branch and Party committee meetings to disseminate the policies that need to be implemented to the people.

Officials in Phu Hoa hamlet, Nghia Phu commune, Nghia Dan district, disseminate information on the implementation of grassroots democracy regulations. Photo: Thu Giang

However, the implementation of this policy still reveals some difficulties, such as cases where Party members have not clearly demonstrated their role, capabilities, and responsibilities, gaining less trust than the masses and therefore are not elected as village heads; or village heads who are not Party members but are elderly or do not meet the Party's regulations and therefore do not qualify for membership; or a few cases where village heads are young but do not wish to join the Party, as in Hong Quang village, Nghia Hong commune…

Therefore, in recent years, the number of village heads in Nghia Dan district admitted to the Party has not been large, and can even be said to be limited, including: 2 cases in 2012, 2 cases in 2014, and 1 case in 2015.

Most recently, in 2017, the number of village heads who are Party members increased by only one person, in Nung village, Nghia Duc commune - where 100% of the population are ethnic minorities and the Party branch is subject to the Provincial Party Committee's Project 01/DA-TU on "Building Party branches and developing Party members in blocks, villages, and hamlets without Party branches or Party members, and blocks, villages, and hamlets at risk of no longer having Party branches in the period 2016 - 2020".

Besides communes that have not yet widely adopted the policy of having village heads who are Party members, such as Nghia Thinh (6 out of 10 village heads are not Party members), Nghia Duc (5 out of 9 village heads are not Party members), Nghia Trung (12 out of 19 village heads are not Party members),... some communes in Nghia Dan district are considered to have implemented this policy very well, for example, Nghia Hoi.

During the past term, 17 out of 18 village heads here were Party members. The only exception was Thanh Hoa village, where the village head was elderly and no longer eligible for Party membership, therefore not a Party member.

Comrade An Quy Vinh - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Nghia Hoi commune, said: "Right from the beginning of the term, the commune Party Committee has guided and directed the hamlets to elect hamlet leaders from among the grassroots Party members, and in reality, over the years this approach has made it easier to integrate the Party's guidelines and policies into daily life, and to enhance the responsibility of the government representatives at the hamlet level."

During the past term, Nghia Hoi commune successfully implemented the model of the Party branch secretary also serving as the village head in 16 out of 18 village Party branches. This has resulted in unified leadership and guidance at the grassroots level, consistency in community meetings, and increased allowances for village-level officials, demonstrating clear effectiveness and gaining the people's consensus.

The head of Khe Bai hamlet (center) discusses matters with leaders of Nghia Hoi commune, Nghia Dan district, and local residents. Photo: Thu Giang

In addition to Thanh Hoa hamlet mentioned above, Khe Bai hamlet does not have a Party branch secretary who also serves as hamlet head because it has a population of 215 households and 904 people, 3-4 times larger than other hamlets, making it difficult to find personnel who can meet the requirements for both roles.

However, according to Mr. Dau Van Xuan, a village headman with nearly 30 years of Party membership who has diligently carried out the task entrusted to him by the people since 2015, the village's activities and movements have always been well-organized and yielded concrete results, largely thanks to the harmonious and seamless combination of his role as village headman and his responsibilities as a Party member.

"Aware of the responsibility on my shoulders as a Party member and a village head entrusted by the people, I always strive to be a bridge between the Party's will and the people's hearts, disseminating and ensuring that the residential area consistently follows the Party's guidelines and policies as well as the laws of the State, building a more developed and prosperous locality," Mr. Xuan shared.

In Nghia Hieu commune, following the guidelines from higher levels as well as the plan of the Party branch congress, during the elections before the people, most Party members who ran for or were nominated still received a high number of votes of confidence for the position of "extended arm" of the government at the hamlet level.

Currently, in the commune, 6 out of 8 village heads are Party members. The commune Party Committee has identified the reasons for the absence of Party members in the remaining 2 villages as follows: these villages have small populations, their Party branches have few members (around 4-5 members per branch), and the role of Party members is not yet prominent, resulting in low levels of public trust. Furthermore, these individuals are elderly, making it difficult to include them in the training and admission process as per the general policy of higher authorities.

However, Comrade Hoang Quoc Hung - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Commune Party Committee - still expressed his concern: "Although there is no situation of Party members shirking responsibility in the locality, there have been cases where Party members did not 'win' the position of village head during the confidence vote, meaning the Party nominated them but the people did not vote. This is an issue that the Commune Party Committee is paying close attention to and thoroughly analyzing in order to find effective solutions, and this will be discussed in the near future when electing village heads for the new term at the end of this year."

From a broader perspective, the Nghia Dan District Party Committee has also identified and emphasized the very important role of village heads in the village-level apparatus, as affirmed by Comrade Phan Tien Hai - Standing Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee: "The position of village head is linked to the leadership of the entire system as well as the interests and aspirations of the people. If a village head is appointed who is a Party member, the Party committee or branch secretary will help transform the role of the Party organization at the grassroots level through the role of the village head."

Therefore, in the coming period, during the process of electing village heads in the communes, Nghia Dan's general orientation will still be to focus on appointing village heads who are Party members, encouraging the simultaneous search for personnel to fulfill both roles of village head and Party branch secretary, and motivating, propagating, assisting, and training village heads who are not yet Party members but meet the criteria to join the Party ranks.

Furthermore, more attention needs to be paid to training the next generation of village heads, strengthening the recruitment of village-level officials such as deputy village heads, police officers, etc. - creating a "source" of high-quality village heads.

Thu Giang