How can you have motivation if you are 'sure' all your life?

(Baonghean) - Dr. Nguyen Si Dung - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office discussed the issue of reforming and improving the quality of grassroots staff.

Dr. Nguyen Si Dung. Photo: Duc Anh

- The grassroots level is close to the people, and is important in serving the people and businesses to promote socio-economic development. If the quality of the grassroots level is not up to standard, it will not only cause obstacles and stagnation, but also create many frustrations and erode trust. Therefore, reforming and improving the quality of grassroots cadres is a practical need. In your opinion, what needs to be done to reform and improve the quality of grassroots civil servants?

- I think the key issue for cadres, civil servants and workers at the grassroots level is twofold: first is the issue of capacity, second is the issue of motivation to serve the people.

As for motivation, do you want to serve the people, are you forced to serve the people? Of course, this is an issue that needs to be viewed realistically and dialectically. The issue of capacity is the issue of qualifications and knowledge to perform the assigned tasks in the assigned position that the people need you to serve in accordance with the law, regulations, and effectively. If you do not know how to implement, you do not have the skills and knowledge to implement the work, to serve the people, then clearly there is a problem with capacity. Therefore, to improve the quality of grassroots cadres, we must improve their capacity, we must make requirements not only in terms of standardizing qualifications, but also in substance, through the measure of qualifications and knowledge to serve the people.

- In your opinion, which of the two issues, capacity and motivation, is more important and why?

- To reform service quality at the grassroots level, we must target both capacity and motivation, of which I think motivation reform is more important.

There are two ways to motivate service. The first way is to depend on the people and then have the motivation to serve the people. People say that only by the people can we serve the people, that is the rule, the law. If I depend on the "district official", the district level, then my motivation is to serve the district level, to please the "district official", the district level. And if I depend on the people in the commune, then I have to serve the people of the commune. People are like that, if you feel where the motivation comes from, then you will design the motivation from there.

We have proposed a pilot project to let people directly elect commune chairmen. I think that nothing serves the reform of the quality of civil servants at the grassroots level better than letting people directly elect commune chairmen. Reform must be done by letting people vote, because people know better and know better. If people vote directly, the only way is to serve the people well so that people will vote.

Dr. Nguyen Si Dung believes that if you just apply to work in an administrative agency or government agency and then sit there for the rest of your life, how can you have motivation? Photo: Duc Anh

People may not know about electing a provincial representative or a National Assembly representative, but they know clearly about electing a commune official. That is the best way to provide motivation. Therefore, if the policy is to elect directly, the problem of motivation to serve the people will be solved very well. I think the problem of motivation can still be solved.

Some people say that the commune chairman is just one person, the problem is the whole apparatus. I think that apparatus depends on the chairman of the ward or commune People's Committee. If the apparatus serves the people poorly, it will be elected by the people. If the apparatus serves the people well, it will be elected by the people. Therefore, the head of the ward or commune government must take care of and be proactive in the positive operation of his or her apparatus.

The second way is to measure people's satisfaction. Nghe An should also do it, and do it substantially. For example, measure how satisfied the people are with the commune people's committee? Who is more trusted by the people? It can be measured by placing a measuring device at the committee headquarters, recording two levels, satisfied and dissatisfied. After dealing with officials, people will go there to evaluate whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied. Based on the results of that evaluation, it will be used as a basis for recommending promotions, rewards, proposing salary increases, and other forms of motivation and encouragement.

As for the issue of capacity, the first reform issue must be the selection stage, the real selection. There are many talented people in society, not a few. Every year we have a surplus of several hundred thousand unemployed graduates. The government also has a project to appoint 600 young intellectuals as commune vice chairmen. We need to objectively consider the pros and cons, and then adjust and expand. From the source of university graduates, from the source of talented people in society, we need to have a suitable recruitment mechanism to attract them to work.

Along with the recruitment mechanism is the usage mechanism. If you perform well and serve well, you will be used. If you do not serve well, you will be disciplined and fired, and your place must be made available to capable and motivated people. If you just apply to work in an administrative agency or government agency and then sit there for life, how can you have motivation?

Another important thing is salary reform. Now that power has not been decentralized, but is being divided according to the payroll, salaries must be paid properly and must ensure living standards. We cannot let grassroots officials not have enough to live on. If they do not have enough to live on, they will find ways to make a living, which can easily violate the Anti-Corruption Law. We have had salary reform, but in my opinion, it has not yet met the needs of grassroots officials, civil servants, and workers.

When there is clear decentralization, the revenue sources must be divided so that the commune level can proactively allocate the salary fund. It is necessary to create a proactive mechanism for the grassroots level to ensure a source of income that is sufficient for workers to live in a transparent, clear manner, without violating or using against regulations. There must be revenue sources for each level, each level at a certain level, then the central level will compensate. In reform issues, financial reform must follow, there must be revenue sources for each level of government.

In short, it is important to ensure motivation and capacity for the staff, civil servants and workers in the communal apparatus. Focusing on motivation and capacity will successfully implement reforms and improve the quality of service to the people.

- Thank you for this conversation!

Ngo Kien

(Perform)