"Only by overcoming fame and profit can the apparatus be streamlined."

Promote the spirit of voluntarily giving up "seats"

Implementing Resolution 39 of the Politburo and Resolution 18 of the Central Committee with the review and arrangement of agencies and units to limit overlap, one agency undertakes many tasks, recently, Lao Cai province has merged the Department of Transport and the Department of Construction into the Department of Transport - Construction of Lao Cai province.

On the morning of July 23, the Board of Directors of the Department of Transport and Construction of Lao Cai province was introduced in the presence of many officers and employees. Accordingly, the leadership of the Department after the merger includes 1 Director and 5 Deputy Directors, with a term of appointment of 5 years. After the merger, the Board of Directors reduced by 4 people, the Department-level leaders reduced by 9 people and 7 employees in the areas of clerical, accounting and other services.

Welcoming the merger of the two Departments in Lao Cai, Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc - former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children emphasized that this is a proof that if determined to do so, the apparatus will be streamlined, the number of staff will be reduced, and the quality and efficiency of operations of political and social organizations as well as State agencies will be improved.

“Only when we overcome the issue of fame and profit can we streamline the apparatus. Therefore, we need to promote the spirit of party members and cadres, be ready to sacrifice their personal interests to voluntarily and consciously give up their “seats” to their comrades, and even be ready to retire a few years in advance to create conditions for the younger generation to have the opportunity to strive. This means that we require a high sense of responsibility, a spirit of dedication and sacrifice, and be ready to give up the most favorable conditions for our comrades and teammates to complete the mission of innovation,” Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc emphasized.

The arrangement and streamlining of the payroll is difficult, complicated and sensitive, it is no different from a "major surgery" to remove redundant parts of the body. The removal may be painful but if left for a long time, it will cause serious illness, affecting health. Therefore, the "major surgery" has no way back, it must be done with determination, otherwise it will affect a series of issues such as social security, the lives of civil servants and public employees, affecting the effectiveness of state management as well as socio-economic development.

According to the former Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and ChildrenIn the National Assembly's opinion, this issue needs to be carefully considered in the spirit of ensuring legitimate rights, both material and spiritual, for civil servants, public employees, and workers. If not careful, after a number of years of ineffectiveness, separating again would be very costly.

Streamlining the political system's organization and apparatus to operate effectively and efficiently is an urgent need for the goal of development creation. The time is ripe, ministries, branches and localities need to act decisively, strictly from top to bottom. Departments, branches and agencies with similar functions and tasks should be merged, along with strengthening State management, reducing specific tasks and focal points, not doing things on behalf of the market, people and businesses, then many units can be merged into one.

Deal with the head if the apparatus is bloated

Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc frankly admitted that after many years of efforts, the number of employees has not decreased significantly but has tended to increase. Specifically, according to the Government's report, in 2017, there was a surplus of more than 57,000 people in the State sector.

According to the results of 2 years of streamlining, not only did the number of people decrease but also increased by 96,000, leading to a 16% increase in regular expenditures, meaning that the apparatus is both large and cumbersome, and redundant under the pressure of salary reform approved by the National Assembly. Therefore, with the current progress of staff reduction, the target of reducing staff by 10% by 2021 will not be achieved.

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc, it is necessary to assign responsibility to the head for the right to decide on human resources as well as the budget to implement streamlining. Along with that, it is necessary to clearly define the responsibilities and disciplinary sanctions for leaders and managers when the apparatus is bloated. "Because if we only stop at seriously drawing lessons and strictly reviewing, it will not be enough of a deterrent."

“Along with the restructuring of the apparatus and streamlining the payroll, we must absolutely tighten the apparatus expansion. We must understand that civil servants are trusted by the people, and the people pay taxes for the officials to receive salaries. People hire 2 people but we have 4, which is clearly a waste of effort. For example, the Hong Duc law (Le Dynasty) stipulates very strict penalties for officials who appoint and recruit officials to work in state agencies in violation of regulations, such as 60 lashes or dismissal. In the current context, we should also inherit this spirit, whoever signs the appointment of excess officials must be punished, even lose their position, to set an example,” Mr. Nguyen Viet Chuc emphasized./.