Pressure to make a living, many officials of the People's Committee of communes and villages in the highlands of Nghe An quit their jobs

Many secretaries and village chiefs resigned.

We arrived at Bao Thang commune, Ky Son border district at a time when local officials and people were working hard to complete the foundations and assemble 120 houses for the poor and those in difficult housing circumstances with support from Nghe An Provincial Police. Welcoming us at the entrance of Tha Lang village, Xeo Van Ninh, the Party cell secretary, said that he would take on the role of Party cell secretary in mid-2022 because the previous village cadre had resigned.

Speaking more about the resignation of commune and village cadres, Bao Thang Commune Party Secretary Vi Thi Dam said that in addition to a number of village and village cadres who requested to resign in 2022, in early 2023, 4 more people requested to resign. These 4 people include 1 Party cell secretary, 1 village chief and 2 police officers. That is Mr. Xeo Van Tan - Party cell secretary of Cha Ca 1 village. Mr. Tan submitted his resignation as Party cell secretary because of difficult family circumstances and wanted to find a job to earn more income to support his family.

Mr. Tan said that his wife is in poor health, and with the burden of raising three children, the family's financial burden depends on him. Work in the village is often irregular and involves many meetings. At the end of the year, he has to go to the base almost every day, complete Party work, direct and participate in community activities in the commune and village, so he has no time to take care of his children and family.

House of an official in Tha Lang village, Bao Thang commune. Photo: HT

In addition, Mr. Moong Van Mai - Head of Cha Ca 2 village also submitted a resignation letter from the village chief position in February 2023. Mr. Mai is raising his elderly parents and two children alone. Mr. Mai's wife also stays at home to help her husband raise pigs and a few chickens, which is just enough to cover food for the family. Other expenses depend on Mr. Mai's income.

Regarding the main source of income of Mr. Moong Van Mai, an official of the People's Committee of Bao Thang commune said that previously, according to Resolution 22/2019/NQ-HDND stipulating the number, title, allowance level, and policies for non-professional workers and other subjects in communes, wards, towns, hamlets, blocks, and villages in Nghe An province, Mr. Mai was entitled to an allowance coefficient of 1.75 compared to the basic salary. Specifically, Mr. Mai received more than 2.6 million VND/month.

“However, this allowance is applied when Bao Thang commune is on the list of key communes with complicated social order and security. After Bao Thang commune is recognized as having successfully transformed and is no longer a key area with complicated social order and security, according to the provisions of Resolution 22/2029/NQ-HDND of the province, the allowance for secretaries and village chiefs will be a coefficient of 1.1 compared to the basic salary. This means that the amount of allowance Mr. Mai receives each month will be reduced to about 1.6 million VND. After the People's Committee of the commune announced that this allowance regime would be implemented from January 2023, in February 2023, Mr. Moong Van Mai submitted an application to resign from the position of village chief to go to the South to find a job,” said the Secretary of the Party Committee of Bao Thang commune.

The leader of Bao Thang commune also added that this is also one of the reasons why the Party Secretary of Cha Ca 1 village and 2 police officers in Xa Va and Tha Lang villages asked to resign.

A corner of Tha Lang village, Bao Thang commune. Photo: HT

Similar to Bao Thang commune, in Muong Long commune of Ky Son district, according to the leader of the commune People's Committee, from the beginning of 2023 until now, 8 people including secretaries, village chiefs, and 1 commune People's Committee official have resigned.

“Most of the cases of resignation are due to difficult family circumstances. Therefore, one of the reasons why they are forced to resign is due to the pressure of making a living, they are the main laborers supporting the whole family, so they are forced to find a higher source of income. Another reason is that from January 2023, the allowance for village and hamlet cadres will decrease by about 1 million VND. The allowance for the secretary and village chief will decrease from 2.6 million VND to 1.6 million VND/month. The allowance for the village chief working on the Front will decrease from 2.2 million VND to 1 million VND/month” – Mr. Vu Ba Xu - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Muong Long commune said.

Specifically, as of the end of April 2023, Muong Long had 8 officials of the Commune and Village People's Committee who had resigned, including: 1 Deputy Head of the Commune Party Committee Inspection Committee, 1 Vice Chairman of the Veterans Association, 1 veterinary officer of the Commune People's Committee, 2 Heads of the Fatherland Front Working Committee (Tham Pang and Huoi Khun villages) and 3 village chiefs (Huoi Khun, Tha Lang, Tham Hang). Of the 8 people who resigned, 5 went to the South to find jobs after their resignation, the remaining 3 are currently staying in the locality to find production and livestock farming directions to develop the economy.

Concerns about allowances for village and commune officials

According to the provisions of Resolution 22/2029/NQ-HDND of the province dated December 12, 2019, the allowance level for each position of non-professional workers in hamlets, blocks, and villages, for hamlets and villages belonging to key communes, complicated in terms of security and order according to the decision of the competent authority; hamlets and villages belonging to border or island communes: Party cell secretaries and village heads receive an allowance of 1.75% compared to the basic salary; heads of the Front work committees of hamlets and villages receive 1.5% compared to the basic salary.

Also according to this resolution, after the communes have been removed from the list of key areas with complicated security and order issues, the allowances for secretaries, village chiefs, some other positions and the operating expenses of the mass mobilization team will also be adjusted down. For example, the allowances of secretaries and village chiefs will be reduced from the coefficient of 1.75 to 1.1, the head of the Front's working committee will be adjusted down from 1.5 to 0.8; the operating expenses for the mass mobilization team will be reduced from 2.5 million VND to 2 million VND/team/year...

People come to do administrative procedures at the People's Committee of Muong Long commune, Ky Son. Photo: HT

“Although the village and hamlet cadres, when they asked to resign, did not express their concerns about why, when the commune and hamlet did a good job, contributing to the successful transformation of the locality, and bringing the locality out of the complicated situation of social order and safety, the policies they received were reduced. However, they said that with the required time for work and such allowances, they could not ensure their family life. Therefore, although they wanted to contribute, they had to give up to take care of their wives, children, and elderly parents,” said Secretary of the Party Committee of Bao Thang Commune, Vi Thi Dam.

Also agreeing with this opinion, an official of the People's Committee of Tam Quang Commune (Tuong Duong) also expressed that in 2022, the commune also had 2 police officers resigning. They resigned not entirely because the allowance was too low, but only because of the "pushing the boat" factor that made them determined to choose another path to start a career and develop the economy.

Sharing about the situation of grassroots cadres, especially young cadres as well as the young labor force, who increasingly tend to leave their hometowns and go to other localities to find jobs, many commune People's Committee cadres have the same opinion, in the village, young people with 1-2 children, they have studied and come back to work in the locality, if the allowance is only 1-2 million VND/month, the economic pressure to raise children, not to mention raising elderly parents is very large. And low allowance is just one of the factors that make them not choose to participate in local government and union work.

“Young people today tend to develop the economy, work far away or go abroad to work. This is also the main reason why the locality lacks labor and human resources to participate in union activities, especially the Youth Union. Therefore, finding sources to recruit Party members and creating sources of cadres at all levels is increasingly difficult,” said an official from the People’s Committee of Lang Khe commune, Con Cuong district.

Hoai Thu