Accountability mechanism of the People's Committee

(Baonghean)The accountability mechanism of the People's Committee (UBND) can be understood as the basis, form, and procedure for the UBND – the executive and administrative body of the state – to be judged and sanctioned before the People's Council (HĐND) – the local representative body and the higher-level administrative body – and of the chairman, vice-chairman, and members before the UBND. Responsibility here falls under the category of political responsibility, manifested in the form of sanctions: suspension from work, dismissal, removal from office, and demotion.

The 1992 Constitution (amended and supplemented in 2001) stipulates that "the People's Committee, elected by the People's Council, is the executive body of the People's Council, the local state administrative agency, responsible for implementing the Constitution, laws, documents of superior state agencies, and resolutions of the People's Council"; "Within the scope of its duties and powers as prescribed by law, the People's Committee issues decisions, directives, and supervises the implementation of those documents. The Chairman of the People's Committee leads and manages the activities of the People's Committee."
Specifically, the 2003 Law on the Organization of People's Councils and People's Committees stipulates: “The People's Committee is responsible for and reports on its work to the People's Council at the same level and the People's Committee at the next higher level,” and “The Chairman of the People's Committee… is personally responsible for the performance of his/her duties and powers… together with the collective People's Committee is responsible for the activities of the People's Committee before the People's Council at the same level and before the superior state agency… Each member of the People's Committee is personally responsible for their part of the work before the People's Council and People's Committee at the same level, and together with other members, is collectively responsible for the activities of the People's Committee before the People's Council at their level and before the superior state agency.”

Regarding the personal responsibility of the head of the People's Committee, especially at the provincial level, the Constitution, the Law on Government Organization, and the Law on the Organization of People's Councils and People's Committees clearly stipulate: The Provincial People's Council has the right to dismiss or remove the chairman, vice-chairman, and other members of the Provincial People's Committee; to supervise the activities of the Provincial People's Committee (through reports from the Provincial People's Committee, through responses to questions, reviewing legal documents of the Provincial People's Committee, and establishing supervisory teams); and to annul erroneous decisions of the Provincial People's Committee. The Provincial People's Council may annul part of illegal decisions and directives of the People's Committee and hold a vote of confidence for those holding positions elected by the Provincial People's Council.

After studying the 1992 Constitution and other legal documents regarding the accountability mechanism of the People's Committee, we have identified several shortcomings and limitations:

Firstly, regarding the collective responsibility of the People's Committee, the collective responsibility of a state agency to another state agency or competent authority is a common legal phenomenon. Most commonly, this includes the responsibility of the executive branch (Government) to the legislative branch (Parliament), and the responsibility of local administrative agencies to self-governing councils and higher-level authorities. Regulating the collective responsibility of the People's Committee to the People's Council and higher-level state administrative agencies is entirely necessary and correct. However, it is necessary to specify more clearly, especially the forms of sanctions, the basis, and the procedures for application.

Secondly, regarding the personal responsibility of the chairman, vice-chairman, and members, the forms of responsibility for the chairman and vice-chairman of the People's Committee are relatively specifically defined. These include dismissal or removal from office by the People's Council, and suspension, dismissal, or removal from office by the directly superior People's Committee chairman (for provincial-level committees, this is the Prime Minister). The question arises whether the disciplinary action against the People's Committee chairman (including dismissal or reassignment) will lead to a change in the structure of the People's Committee. The current Constitution does not stipulate this, even for the Government.

Thirdly, other members of the People's Committee, according to current law, are only accountable to the People's Council in the form of dismissal or removal from office, but not to the Chairman of the People's Committee at the higher level. The Chairman of the People's Committee at the higher level and the Prime Minister only approve such dismissal or removal. The law stipulates the individual responsibility of each member of the People's Committee for their work before the People's Committee at the same level, but the form and procedure for application are not yet specifically regulated. On the other hand, some points are inconsistent; why are they accountable to the People's Committee and not to the Chairman, when the Chairman nominates and assigns tasks, not the People's Committee? It is necessary to re-examine this accountability mechanism, allowing the Chairman at least the right to propose to the People's Council the dismissal or removal from office, similar to the responsibility of Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers before the Prime Minister.

Fourth, regarding the content of responsibility and the authority to review the accountability of the chairmen of People's Committees at all levels, there is still overlap in the regulations on authority between the Prime Minister and the Provincial People's Council, between the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and the District People's Council, and between the Chairman of the District People's Committee and the Commune People's Council. For this reason, an effective mechanism has not yet been established for People's Councils at all levels to independently exercise the right to review the accountability of the People's Committees, which are elected by the People's Councils. This has made the provisions of the law difficult to implement. In this constitutional amendment, it is necessary to clarify the focal point and basis for reviewing the accountability of the chairmen of People's Committees at all levels and to establish the most effective accountability review mechanism.

For the reasons mentioned above, we propose several directions for amending the provisions of the Constitution and other legal documents regarding the accountability mechanism of the People's Committees to suit the current economic conditions and circumstances of Vietnamese society.

- In essence, the People's Committee is the executive body, the local state administrative agency, elected by the People's Council. Therefore, it is necessary to unify the principle that the People's Committee is the executive body and is accountable to the People's Council.

- The current provisions regarding the collective responsibility of the People's Committee to the People's Council and higher-level state administrative agencies are still too general. Therefore, the amended Constitution needs to specify more clearly the forms of sanctions, the basis, and the procedures for their application.

- The amended constitution needs to more clearly define the responsibilities of the chairperson of the People's Committee, especially the chairperson of the People's Committee at the provincial level, to avoid overlapping authority and evasion of responsibility.

- Regarding the form and procedure for applying individual responsibility to each member of the People's Committee for their respective work, there are no specific regulations. The Constitution and other legal documents need to be amended to ensure that members of the People's Committee are accountable to the Chairman of the People's Committee. Only then can uniformity in the accountability mechanism from the Government to the People's Committee be guaranteed.

- The Constitution needs to recognize and stipulate the collective responsibility of the People's Committee in cases where the Chairman of the People's Committee is subjected to disciplinary measures stemming from the principle of the Prime Minister's system that we are currently applying. Only then can we ensure the genuine leadership role of the head of the People's Committee and create consistency in current legal regulations. Because the Chairman has the right to nominate and elect the Vice-Chairman and other members; assign tasks to members, and together with other members, share collective responsibility for the activities of the People's Committee… therefore, each time the Chairman is changed, a certain change is necessary to create a new working structure.

- Constitutional provisions must ensure the independence and high accountability of local governments. Independence and accountability do not mean separation from the unity of our State, but rather independence within the unity of the system of central and local state administrative agencies, based on the unity of state power and the unity of the Vietnamese legal system. This is a fundamental prerequisite for determining responsibility and perfecting the accountability mechanism of the People's Committees.

Nguyen Trong Hai (Nghe An Bar Association)