Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa and unusually rich officials

Deputy Minister Kim Thoa owns assets worth hundreds of billions of dong; many officials are unusually wealthy… causing people's trust in the management apparatus to decline.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in an online Government meeting with localities on July 3, frankly said: "A number of government officials still have bad reputations due to corruption and group interests."

Also on July 3, the Central Inspection Committee announced its conclusions on the violations of Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa and several other individuals. This shows the determination of our Party and State to fight corruption, but also shows a sad reality that many individuals and interest groups monopolize the country, and it is very difficult to eliminate them.

Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa.

The story of Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa makes many people ponder about the efficiency of State-owned enterprises and the losses in the process of equitization of these enterprises. Capital, assets, preferential policies... for these enterprises ultimately only "fatten" individuals and enterprise leaders. They can gain large amounts of money for themselves, but the amount of money that the State loses due to losses is much larger. In addition, this also distorts economic competition, is not transparent, and is not in accordance with the market mechanism. The consequences are huge.

Why is it that a country with a slow economic development and a high poverty rate has such a large number of wealthy officials, civil servants, and leaders? We should be happy that a country with many rich people has become a country with many rich people. But on the contrary, the wealth of that group of people in power makes the whole society worried! Because their wealth is not from their management talent or intelligence, from effective business investment activities, from creativity in production and services, etc., but from profiting from policies, from group interests, from corruption.

Being a civil servant does not mean having to live in poverty or hunger. Officials must first take care of their own lives. With a proper civil servant salary and the benefits of their social status, they can have a more fulfilling life than the surrounding community. But if a civil servant becomes unusually rich, rich enough to have hundreds of billions in assets, rich enough that 7 generations of government employees would not dare to dream of... then that is a big question mark. Because there are many officials who, after building all kinds of mansions and villas, are criticized by public opinion, and the authorities step in to inspect and check and discover a series of violations for personal gain.

Where do they get rich from? They get rich by exploiting policies and appropriating national and ethnic resources. Not everyone has the opportunity to get rich this way. When the country gives them important responsibilities and positions, they should strive to build a rich and powerful country, create a better life for the working people, the people who pay taxes to support them, but on the contrary, they use that as a springboard, an opportunity to take care of themselves, their families, and their own clans.

The requirement of asset declaration and transparency for those working in state management has been implemented for many years. However, reality has confirmed that asset declaration and transparency are still half-hearted, formal, and ineffective. After all, people need true transparency. Only transparency can create a team of officials and leaders with enough heart, vision, and talent to run the country. Only then will the economy, politics, and society truly be strong and develop sustainably. As it is now, the bigger the mansion, the more "huge" the cash, the more the people's trust in the public apparatus declines./.

According to VOV