General Secretary: Determined to clean up the Party and State apparatus

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed that it is necessary to further strengthen the fight against bureaucracy, corruption and waste.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at a meeting with voters in Ba Dinh and Hoan Kiem districts. (Photo: Tri Dung/VNA)

Sharing voters' concerns about bureaucracy, corruption and waste, at the meeting with voters of constituency No. 1, Hanoi on August 6, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said that although some initial results have been achieved recently, this is an extremely complicated, persistent and difficult struggle, related to the interests and honor of each person and each organization, especially when interests are now intertwined, not to mention outside influences.

The General Secretary affirmed: “Our Party and State are determined to do this, considering this a task to clean up the Party and the State apparatus. Recently, we have handled a number of major cases, and now we continue to bring a number of major cases to trial, such as the case of Pham Cong Danh and his accomplices...; we must be determined to do this, take firm, cautious, and effective steps, and maintain stability to develop the country...

The good news this time is that after the directive, it seems like the whole machine and the whole system are involved. The General Secretary alone cannot do it, but the whole people and the whole system must work together, the Government, the National Assembly, ministries and branches must join in. With the new spirit, I believe we will do even better."

In response to the concerns of many voters about personnel work, the General Secretary pointed out: “Personnel work is the root of all problems, all success or failure depends on the cadres. If we say that Party building work is the key, then personnel work is the key of all keys, the cause of all causes. No matter how good the guidelines are, how correct the policies are, if the cadres do not meet the requirements, or even make mistakes, they cannot be implemented…”

After the Party Congress, the first thing the Central Committee did was to assign, arrange, and reorganize cadres, considering both the immediate and long-term, harmonizing the top and bottom, regional structure, male, female, ethnic groups, etc.; ensuring the structure, standards, correct procedures, and principles. Following that work, we immediately proceeded to perfect the personnel of state agencies. Recent reality has shown that this is the right policy, creating a new momentum. Cadres are the decisive factor, only when they are stable can they work, first of all building an honest, clean, close-to-the-people, and people-serving Government.

Also at the meeting with voters, in response to voters' concerns about the environmental incident in Ha Tinh and some central provinces, the General Secretary said: "...so much effort has been put into this, there are opinions that this case has been delayed, why not be faster and more decisive. This is a struggle, not just a negotiation, a struggle with reason and emotion, with reality and evidence, forcing the wrongdoer to admit his mistake, promise to remedy the consequences, compensate, change the chain, not repeat the offense...

From here, a series of other environmental cases arose, giving us a lesson not to attract investment at any cost, but to protect the environment. This is a profound, expensive lesson, an expensive tuition... Your contributions are correct, we must pay attention to environmental issues. At the last session, the National Assembly also talked a lot about environmental issues, drawing a great lesson that we must protect the environment, develop quickly but sustainably, protect the living environment, the working environment, the investment and business environment..."

Regarding the issue of protecting the country and national independence and sovereignty, especially after the Arbitration Court issued its ruling on the East Sea issue, the General Secretary affirmed that the strategic line remains unchanged: to persistently and resolutely protect independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, maintain peace for development; and to calculate the benefits and harms for the interests of the nation and people.

The General Secretary also agreed with the opinion of many voters that it is necessary to continue to further innovate the activities of the National Assembly, including legislation, supervision, decision-making on important national issues and foreign affairs.

Lawmaking work must be better, not allowing the situation like the recent Penal Code, which had many errors; must improve the quality of legislative work, ensure feasibility, promote the spirit of the rule of law, and build a disciplined society. Or the work of supreme supervision, must have key focus, so as to be effective, creating stronger changes in reality.

Right from the work of meeting voters, we need to continue to innovate, not only the National Assembly discusses national affairs, but now the whole people discuss national affairs... To do so, we must improve the quality and operational capacity of National Assembly deputies, increase the proportion of full-time National Assembly deputies, and the professionalism and efficiency in the activities of the National Assembly.

At the meeting, the majority of voters expressed their joy at the results of the First Session of the 14th National Assembly, which took place after the success of the 12th National Party Congress and the election of deputies to the 14th National Assembly and People's Councils for the 2016-2021 term. This is a victory of the people's will and the Party's will. Voters hope and believe that the comrades who have been elected to high-ranking leadership positions in the state apparatus will fully fulfill their oaths before the National Assembly and the people, and strive to fulfill their assigned duties and tasks.

Voters are pleased to see the strong leadership of the Party and Government in recent times; they hope that the General Secretary will continue to give more specific and strong leadership, especially in the fight against corruption and waste, and be determined to build a constructive, active, and honest Government that will not disappoint the people's expectations.

Voters also raised many issues that are still worrying, especially the complicated developments in the East Sea, the sad incidents related to personnel work, the marine environmental pollution incident in 4 central provinces, and violations in economic management that caused losses of thousands of billions of dong. Although the personnel work has been carefully prepared, there are still mistakes such as the cases of Mr. Trinh Xuan Thanh, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong, etc.

Voters requested that the responsibilities of relevant units and individuals in each case must be clarified and handled thoroughly without distinguishing who the violator is...

Voters believe that after 30 years of renovation, the country has achieved many successes but is still poor, people's lives have improved but still face difficulties. Voters believe that National Assembly deputies, as well as the 90 million Vietnamese people, always wish and do their best for national peace and security./.

According to Vietnamplus