General Secretary: 'Disciplining comrades and teammates is painful, but must be done'

Speaking at the meeting with voters in Ba Dinh, Dong Da and Hai Ba Trung districts after the third session on the morning of June 23, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong respectfully accepted the voters' brief, focused, profound, dedicated and responsible opinions; and said he would synthesize all opinions to report to the National Assembly.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the meeting with voters.

Recalling the disciplinary action against two Central Committee members, including Mr. Chu Ngoc Anh - former Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee and former Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long related to the Viet A case, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said that the fight against corruption and negativity has been carried out by our Party persistently, humanely, rationally, methodically and very convincingly.

“These two comrades are both members of the Party Central Committee, and have recently been expelled from the Party and removed from a number of other positions. After the conclusion of the Inspection Committee, Party discipline will be implemented first, followed by administrative discipline, and then criminal discipline. This will almost become a theory on corruption prevention and control, a lesson for how to continue to do well in the coming period, especially when we establish a provincial-level Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention and Control,” the General Secretary emphasized.

According to the General Secretary, with such a methodical approach, the parties themselves have also recognized their mistakes and shortcomings, which is the most important thing. More importantly, this is a lesson to deter, warn, and warn others not to make the same mistake.

“I do not enjoy disciplining my comrades and teammates, and it is even painful, but I have to do it. As Uncle Ho said, we have to cut off a few wormy branches to save the whole tree,” said the General Secretary.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

According to the Party leader, this time the Central Committee decided to establish a provincial Steering Committee on anti-corruption and negativity, and currently a number of provinces have established them. On June 30, a national conference will be held to review 10 years of anti-corruption work since the Central Steering Committee was established, with the General Secretary as the Head of the Steering Committee. The conference aims to summarize experiences and draw lessons so that in the coming period, we can continue to promote the achieved results, especially in the context that provinces and cities across the country are implementing the establishment of provincial Steering Committees with the consistent spirit of the Party and State of "unanimity from top to bottom, and transparency from top to bottom".

“Last time I said, whoever in the Steering Committee violates will be dealt with first” – the General Secretary emphasized this, and at the same time said that the conference summarizing 10 years of the establishment of the Central Steering Committee is also to train the provincial Steering Committees to be unified from the Central to the local level, to be “in the right role, know their lessons”.

The provincial steering committee helps the Party committee and government to advise on the resolution of issues related to corruption prevention and control. This is not just about fighting, but also about how to prevent, advocate, and implement policies so that corruption cannot, does not dare, does not need, and does not want to occur. The entire mechanism and system are like that. For this or that reason, doing things that are illegal, immoral, and unethical is not acceptable.

Reiterating concerns about where to find people to work if many officials are dismissed, the General Secretary affirmed that "in the absence of the head, the deputy will temporarily take over, and then the right person must be chosen, and not hastily promoted to someone else. The right person must be chosen, the important thing is still the cadre work".

According to the General Secretary, the recent National Assembly session left very good public opinion, continued to have innovations, and fulfilled its role as the highest State power agency representing the will and aspirations of the people. Accordingly, the People's Council must also fulfill its role as the representative agency of the people, listen to and absorb the opinions of the people in order to come up with policies that are in line with the people's wishes, thereby mobilizing the people's strength and creating a combined strength.