Merging agencies: Creating a 'push' to reorganize the apparatus to be lean and efficient

To clarify this historic reform, the Government Electronic Newspaper had an interview with Dr. Dinh Duy Hoa, public administration expert, former Director of the Department of Administrative Reform (Ministry of Home Affairs).

Sir, not now but decades ago, the policy of streamlining the apparatus has been mentioned by our Party and State in many resolutions. However, there are opinions that until now, the expectation for a new revolution is greater than ever, demonstrated by the strong determination of General Secretary To Lam. What is your opinion on this?

Dr. Dinh Duy Hoa: That's right. If we follow the statements, comments, especially the orientation of reforming the apparatus of the political system, we can clearly see that this time the Central Committee and the Politburo, headed by General Secretary To Lam, are really determined to implement the revolution in the organization of the apparatus of the entire political system. In the previous times, we mainly focused on the state apparatus, specifically the administrative apparatus. This time, from the direction of the Central Committee and the General Secretary, we will do it comprehensively, that is, the entire political system, including 3 parts: the Party, the Front, socio-political organizations and the State.

The spirit of "practice goes hand in hand with words" can be seen clearly in the messages and instructions of General Secretary To Lam in recent times. Currently, ministries, branches, units and localities have begun to implement plans for arrangement and merger. At present, it is not possible to fully state the results right away, but I imagine that the results of this reform will be very large and the goal of streamlining, effectiveness and efficiency will certainly be achieved.

Merging the apparatus is certainly not simply merging two agencies into one, sir?

Dr. Dinh Duy Hoa: Definitely so. If we just merge the agencies together, it will be purely the first step, not achieving the so-called effectiveness and efficiency as the General Secretary desires, that is, creating a "push" to reorganize the apparatus.

In my opinion, first of all, the agencies that are merging together as well as the agencies that are not merged must redefine exactly what they have to do in the coming time because there are things that the agency has done before but now under the new conditions it is no longer necessary to do. There are also things that the agency is doing directly but that can be left to the affiliated agencies and organizations to do, or even decentralized to the locality. The story of reviewing the work that you are doing to see if you should continue to do it or not is extremely difficult and complicated. It is not enough to just merge it and finish the job. You have to list the work you have done and evaluate it, so this is not simple.

If agencies and organizations in the entire political system do this seriously and systematically, it will be an important basis for redesigning the organizational structure of each agency and organization, which can contribute to eliminating the cumbersome, multi-layered, and even overlapping functions and tasks between agencies and organizations. Then comes the innovation of working methods as well as the story of the quality of the staff in the organization.

Time is running out and the workload is large, so what do ministries, departments, branches and localities need to do to meet the requirements?

Dr. Dinh Duy Hoa: We see the sense of urgency clearly expressed in the direction of the General Secretary and the Politburo. First, each agency must review its functions, tasks, and organizational structure. A cumbersome, multi-layered apparatus must be reviewed from the ministries down to the provinces, and on that basis, proactive proposals must be made.

But the important thing, in my opinion, is the level of direction. The Central Steering Committee needs to have strong directions and directions so that ministries, branches and provinces have a basis for implementation. And in fact, we have seen some localities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Quang Ninh, Soc Trang... have discussed and have specific plans for streamlining affiliated agencies and organizations.

Need exemplary and sacrifice of the leader

Streamlining the apparatus will certainly not be easy because it touches on sensitive and complex issues. In your opinion, what is a strong and radical solution to carry out a revolution in the apparatus?

Dr. Dinh Duy Hoa: Certainly, this reform will "touch" many agencies, organizations, and many people working in the apparatus. From the direction of the Central Committee, we immediately think of the first solution that General Secretary To Lam has emphasized, which is the exemplary and sacrificial role of the heads of agencies and organizations, first of all the Central Committee members. A leader who is not exemplary will certainly not create a stir or spread. Therefore, the first solution must be to strengthen responsibility and the spirit of taking responsibility and sacrificing for the common good, especially of the leaders.

The second solution, of course, goes hand in hand with that, we must do a good job of ideological work, creating consensus. Through explanation, propaganda, and dissemination in newspapers and radio to create a high consensus of the whole society. Recently, there has been a very thoughtful opinion, that is, some people have to leave the apparatus through this reform, perhaps it is an opportunity for them to go out and demonstrate their abilities that have been obscured because they have been stuck in the state payroll.

The third solution is to take into account the interests of those affected through organizational arrangements. We clearly see that normally, there is no such thing as who goes and who stays, including comrades in leadership positions. We need to put ourselves in the shoes of these people. Previously, we talked about streamlining the payroll to target those who are not qualified, but this time when merging agencies, we cannot affirm that all redundant cadres, civil servants, and public employees are not qualified. Because of the merger, there is a story of redundant people, so we must study to have appropriate policy and regime measures for these people.

For example, we can find people who can still be trained and educated, and are still at the age where they can be trained, and create opportunities for them to be trained and educated. In addition, we can create conditions for them to find jobs, first of all within the organization, or outside. Or there are policies and regimes for those who are waiting, who apply for jobs themselves or wait for the organization to arrange them, then during that time there should also be appropriate policies for these people.

Our country has gone through many rounds of streamlining the payroll with many reasonable policies and regimes. And so I believe that this time, the responsible agencies will issue appropriate policies and regimes.

Streamlining the apparatus will certainly help reduce quantity but at the same time increase quality, specifically in this case attracting talented people to the public sector. However, this task has never been easy for us. Do you have any solutions to do this?

Dr. Dinh Duy Hoa: Since 2008, the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants has mentioned the story that the state has a regime and policies to attract and employ talented people in public service. However, from 2008 until now, we have not really had the right solutions to effectively implement this story.

Specifically, while we have not yet determined who is talented and associated with it is the story of the regime and policy, we have turned to having a policy to attract and create a source of cadres from excellent graduates, specifically bachelors, masters and doctors. These people have a priority policy of being recruited directly into the civil service without examination and have a treatment regime that can be said to be very preferential.

The mistake here is that we think that those who study well in university will also be good in public service. These people who study well have the qualities and potential to be good in public service, but they cannot be good right away. Being good through degrees does not mean being good in public service. On the other hand, this policy creates a huge inequality between those who benefit from the policy and other ordinary public servants.

Referring to Singapore's experience, the Government first selects students with excellent academic results in high school. After 4-5 years of studying at prestigious universities around the world with state budget, these people return to the country to serve in a separate group to be monitored and assisted. It can be said that this process is like a test of the mettle and capacity of civil servants. The salary and benefits of this group of civil servants are the same as those of other ordinary civil servants. After 5 years of working like that, they will be evaluated and if their capacity is assessed as excellent, they will be placed in a special civil service category with a salary regime much more preferential than that of ordinary civil servants.This is a good and learnable experience.

Thank you very much!

Nghe An established a Steering Committee to streamline the political system's organizational structure to operate effectively and efficiently.