XIII Personnel: If done properly, we can limit "eels and loaches" from escaping the planning!

Today (December 25), the 9th Central Conference opened and reviewed and decided on many important contents, including discussing the work of planning strategic-level cadres and for the first time, the Central Committee took a vote of confidence for Politburo members and Secretariat members.

During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh once said, "Cadres are the root of all work", "all successes or failures are due to good or bad cadres". Our Party always determines that cadre work is the cause of all causes, the key of all keys.

The reality of the past long period has also proven that. Never before has the number of cadres who have violated discipline and been prosecuted before the law, including cadres under the management of the Central Government, been so high. It must also be frankly admitted that the violations of these cadres did not just happen now but have accumulated over a long period of time. The main reason is that we have somewhat relaxed our management, inspection, supervision and handling.

At the meeting of the Steering Committee for building strategic-level personnel planning for the 2021-2026 term, the General Secretary and President directed that people showing signs of political and ideological degradation not be included in the planning.(Photo: Nhat Bac)

This is also a profound lesson in the work of planning and appointing cadres. After each time we discipline a cadre, we look back at the planning work and the appointment process. Poor planning will certainly let in “eels” and “loach” into the apparatus, as the General Secretary once worried. A complete and strict process, but when the person operating the process deliberately makes mistakes and distorts it, it will also let incompetent and unqualified cadres into the apparatus.

In the fight against corruption and even in the planning and appointment of officials in recent times, it has been shown that the role of the leader is extremely important, almost deciding success or failure.

The leader of our Party sets an example and is resolute in fighting corruption, and the results achieved are almost “miraculous”. Never before has the fight against corruption been as strong and increasingly fierce as it is today. Never before have there been so many individuals and organizations committing violations.

According to the Head of the Central Organizing Committee, in just the past 2 years, Party committees and Inspection Commissions at all levels have disciplined more than 490 Party organizations and thousands of Party members for violations. Up to now, 59 officials under the Central Committee's management have been disciplined, including 13 Central Committee members, former Central Committee members and 1 Politburo member.

The strong determination and actions of the Party, the State and the Party leader have breathed new life into the people. Trust in the Party and the regime has been increasingly strengthened, motivating people to enthusiastically strive to build the country. The evidence is that in recent years, all aspects of social life have seen remarkable developments, especially economic growth with impressive figures, and Vietnam's position has been increasingly enhanced in the international arena.

From the important role of the leader, it can also be seen that, in the past, violations of organizations and individuals were all related to the person "holding the scales and measuring". Major cases have been and are being brought to trial, thousands of billions of dong of the people's hard-earned money have been profited by those very leaders, lost or "backed" by interest groups, profiteering backyards...

In recent times, our Party and its leaders have clearly seen these shortcomings. Along with high determination, without any “forbidden zones” in handling violations, our Party has also issued many regulations and statutes to perfect and tighten the planning and appointment of cadres, especially the planning of strategic-level cadres.

For the first time, the work of planning strategic-level cadres has been done in such a systematic and rigorous manner. The planning of cadres, especially strategic-level cadres, has been given attention and direction by our Party and State for a long time and has been very carefully and methodically demonstrated in many Resolutions and Directives of the Party.

The process of discovering and introducing planning personnel at local, agency and unit levels is carried out in 4 steps. The process of reviewing, verifying and approving planning at the central level is carried out in 5 steps. In these processes, the introduction and verification at each step is also done quite strictly and independently, avoiding the situation where superiors absolutely trust the introduction of subordinates and often do not verify or re-verify.

In this planning, the Central Committee especially emphasizes the responsibility of Party committees, Party organizations and advisory agencies. With such a methodical and careful process, the planning and introduction of cadres will not only be the responsibility of one level, but will clearly define the responsibilities of each level and each stage. Doing so will also limit the situation that we have been "stuck" in handling cadres who violate the law, which is the difficulty in assigning responsibility to individuals and organizations that introduce and appoint.

In addition to strict standards on capacity, our Party also attaches special importance to the qualities and ethics of the planned personnel. Reality over the past long period of time has shown that for a cadre, if one of these two factors is lacking, it becomes a danger to the development of the country. In particular, once a cadre has “degenerated”, the consequences are unpredictable.

Therefore, right at the 7th Central Conference of the Party, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong paid special attention to this issue. The leader of our Party has been very concerned about the work of cadres, focusing on qualities or abilities or both? Why are there many very correct and accurate resolutions but the implementation efficiency is low? Why is the process correct but the arrangement of specific people wrong?...

In the strategic cadre planning at the 9th Central Conference, the issue of the quality of those planned was also given special attention. The General Secretary and President directed that those who showed signs of political ideological degradation, disunity, internal turmoil, negative corruption, and political opportunism such as “eels and loach” should not be included in the planning.

This is also the first time that a Party Conference will take a vote of confidence for Politburo members and Secretariat members. This activity demonstrates democracy not only in all areas of social life but also in the Party's activities. Through the vote of confidence, those holding the ballot in their hands also see their responsibility towards the country, to evaluate cadres objectively and impartially. This is also an opportunity for each cadre to review themselves, recognize their limitations to overcome and improve themselves.

With the Central Committee's careful and thorough preparation of personnel for the 13th Congress, it basically meets the requirements, initially contributing to overcoming the phenomenon of "running for planning or lobbying, asking for recommendation votes through acquaintances" as affirmed by Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of the Central Organizing Committee.

And, people have the right to expect a major change in building the staff, especially the strategic-level staff./.