Petty corruption destroys people's trust in the government.

Speaking at the conclusion of the recent national online conference to disseminate and implement the Prime Minister's Directive 10 on preventing petty corruption, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said that the abuse of positions and powers to harass, "extort", "give bribes"... is a burning issue in society.

In reality, corruption has been occurring not only at the central level, in large projects worth thousands of billions of dong - grand corruption, but also in hospitals and grassroots government agencies, where people's interests are directly dealt with every day. That is petty corruption.

Petty corruption comes from the view that "money first is smart money"?

Petty corruption is happening everywhere, even so much that we feel it is a normal phenomenon in society. For example, traffic police catch minor traffic violations and then let it go when they are "given" a few hundred thousand dong; students give envelopes to teachers to ask for grades, ask for exam questions; worse is the practice of running for schools, classes, and thesis grading committees...

Petty corruption exists at the grassroots level of wards, communes and towns. Petty corruption is most commonly manifested in the behavior of individuals but has the tacit consent and permission of direct leaders through making it difficult for citizens to come to work to suggest compensation for smooth work if they do not want to go back and forth to complete additional paperwork and procedures many times or manifests in small groups when proposing fees to collect fines that are contrary to the provisions of the law.

In reality, giving and receiving envelopes to resolve work is a prominent manifestation of petty corruption. With the mindset of “money first is smart money”, many people gradually recognize the envelope culture, considering it a natural thing to have.

It can be said that petty corruption is happening every day, every hour, not only destroying traditional morality but more dangerously, it makes people lose trust in social values ​​and the government. This evil destroys the quality of civil servants and distorts the image of a country that is trying to integrate with the world.

The role of cadres and the eyes and ears of the people

Faced with the requirements of international economic integration, the Party and State have oriented to build and perfect the grassroots government apparatus to be increasingly compact, lightweight, and streamlined. Initial operations have achieved certain effectiveness in management areas. This is reflected through the solutions that the Government has implemented in recent times, such as reforming administrative procedures towards building a one-stop, one-stamp administrative model, decentralizing functional tasks to the commune level in performing tasks in health, culture, education, sports, and construction.

However, in reality, in some localities, the effectiveness and efficiency of the government apparatus is not high, not meeting the requirements of serving the people. There are many reasons, but mainly because there are still many grassroots officials whose capacity is not commensurate with the level of decentralization. There are even some civil servants whose moral and lifestyle have degraded, leading to administrative decisions or behaviors that negatively affect the effectiveness of state management activities at the local level.

Dr. Tran Quang Huy, Vice President of Hanoi Law University, said that if we want the grassroots government to be stronger to serve the people, we must focus on personnel work.

“Grassroots government officials are the foundation of the grassroots administration, so they must be trained and have improved revolutionary ethics. On that basis, they will wholeheartedly and wholeheartedly serve the people and the apparatus, help people understand legal policies and administrative procedures, and create the best conditions for people to ensure their rights and interests. Only then will the apparatus be closely linked to the people, win the hearts of the people, be respected and protected by the people,” Dr. Tran Quang Huy emphasized.

An e-government, no matter how modern it is, depends on the people who implement it. In particular, the service capacity of civil servants is evaluated by the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the people. In reality, there are still many complaints and frustrations. Mr. Ngo Thanh Can, National Academy of Public Administration, said that "there is experience and process, but people can reduce or even distort it due to awareness and professional ethics".

In addition to innovating and perfecting the organizational structure, management mechanism, operation methods and selecting people to reflect the true nature of the people's government, having specific mechanisms and creating favorable conditions for the people to exercise their direct democratic rights, participate in building and supervising the government is a requirement. According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Phuong - Vice Principal of Hanoi University of Home Affairs, in order to promote the role of people as masters and participants in building the government, it is necessary to implement a comprehensive set of solutions.

“It is necessary to publicize the responsibility of providing information about the activities of local governments to the people, ensuring the direct participation of the people in the organization and activities of the People's Council and People's Committee; there must be responsibility of the government in implementing the contents that the people have discussed and decided, not just listening, studying and then leaving it there, but there must be explanation and implementation of the contents that the people have discussed and decided within the framework of the law,” Mr. Nguyen Minh Phuong stated his opinion.

For localities with projects implemented in the area, it is necessary to mobilize the strength of the entire population, with the motto "people know, people discuss, people do, people inspect", because reality has proven that if we want the activities of public agencies and each civil servant to be oriented towards the people, serving the people, and avoiding corruption and negativity, the supervisory role of the masses is indispensable./.