Merging Departments and Branches: Accepting Losing 'Seats' to Streamline the Organization

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao said that if we are determined to reform and streamline the apparatus, we must not be affected by "group interests" and accept losing our "seat".

The proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs on merging a number of Departments and branches in the draft Decree on organizing specialized agencies under the People's Committees of provinces and cities continues to attract public attention.

Need to implement synchronously, publicly and transparently

Expressing his opinion on this issue, Mr. Le Nam, former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Thanh Hoa Province, said that the Ministry of Home Affairs' proposal to merge a number of departments and branches in centrally-run cities is not new in administrative management.

In fact, over the years, the apparatus of professional agencies at the provincial and municipal levels has been separated and merged many times to serve professional work in different conditions. And this is a way with many positive aspects in reducing the bulkiness and heaviness in the apparatus, redefining the functions and tasks in accordance with the nature of the state apparatus' operations. From the rearrangement of the apparatus, it will reduce the number of staff, headquarters, salaries... reducing the costs that the people's tax money must spend on the state apparatus.

Mr. Le Nam.

Besides the supportive opinions, many experts are also concerned about the draft of the Ministry of Home Affairs, whether the upcoming merger plans will really bring about efficiency in administrative reform or not? Will it really streamline and simplify the administrative apparatus to reduce obstacles and troubles for people and businesses or is it simply a mechanical addition and subtraction?

Agreeing with this point of view, according to Mr. Le Nam, if we only stop at the mechanical method, we will not achieve the goals and desires that we set for ourselves. Even if we do not have the right way of doing things, do not have the determination to direct and do not implement synchronously, we may "give birth" to other complications such as those related to policies and regimes for cadres, to the rights and interests of workers. On the other hand, just being mechanical will not make the apparatus stronger but can weaken it. Accordingly, it is necessary to implement synchronously with a process and method that is truly public, transparent, democratic, and associated with a monitoring mechanism.

Emphasizing that reorganization and rearrangement will cause massive personnel surplus, Mr. Le Nam said that this is also a problem that needs to be solved because it is not only affected by administrative relationships but also by many other relationships. He cited that in Thanh Hoa, there are 27 districts and towns with many industries and fields, now it is necessary to rebalance the use of common cadres. The problem is not in one industry anymore, but the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Thanh Hoa leaders must balance the common cadre team associated with the rearrangement of the entire province's apparatus.

Regarding civil servants, a big question is whether it is necessary to conduct examinations for civil servants for a while longer or to rebalance the number of reorganized personnel? What is the policy for early retirement of civil servants, subsidies for them to change their profession, or to switch to other jobs? "There are a series of policies for civil servants when implementing the reorganization and reassignment. Only when these questions are resolved can things be stable, otherwise it will be complicated," said Mr. Le Nam.

Accept losing "seat" to streamline the apparatus

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao - Director of the Institute for Research on Law and Development Policy (under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations) said: “It is necessary to remove the focal points of agencies from the provincial level to the district level. Because in reality, if you go to the provincial and district People's Committees, you will see that the amount of time that officials and civil servants spend working is not much, but they still say that there is not enough staff and it is getting bigger and bigger. I agree with the reduction of leadership positions. In terms of functions and tasks, some Departments can merge and coordinate well with each other.”

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao. (Photo: KT)

Regarding this issue, some leaders of the Departments and branches of Ho Chi Minh City assessed the merger proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs as very mechanical, and emphasized that these two special urban areas have to deal with a huge amount of work, so if they merge, it will lead to overload and not ensure development. According to Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao, it is necessary to clarify the decentralization and delegation of authority, then the focal points and the organization can be clearly reduced.

“The reflection of some departments and branches in Ho Chi Minh City is also reasonable because merging into one is just two into one, so it is still bloated. Therefore, it is necessary to solve the problem from the root, from decentralization, delegation of authority, and functions and tasks of the merged unit. It is necessary to clearly distinguish two service areas: public administrative services, which are directly serving the people; and two, making policies and issuing documents regulating working processes to create a more open and better environment,” said Mr. Giao.

According to Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao, reform and streamlining are reasonable, but this will affect the interests of many people. However, once determined to do it, do not let it be influenced by "group interests", do it objectively and scientifically, accept losing those "seats" and resolve the policies for those who pass the exam but cannot stay in their positions. Accordingly, it is necessary to merge scientifically, transparently the process of selecting officials will solve the problem.

The draft of the Ministry of Home Affairs on the merger of a number of departments and branches is a big issue that requires careful and thorough discussion. The arrangement and reorganization must be carried out synchronously with a truly public, transparent, democratic process and method, associated with a monitoring mechanism. In parallel with the merger, it is necessary to consider and rearrange staff and streamline the payroll to ensure the smooth operation of specialized agencies and not increase the burden on the State budget./.

According to VOV