Up to now, Mr. Pham Hong Thoan, Hamlet 3, Nghia Thuan Commune, Thai Hoa Town holds a record of nearly 25 years of seniority as a hamlet cadre. Previously, he held the position of Party Cell Secretary and Head of the Front Work Committee of Hamlet 4. At that time, the area and population were small, only more than 120 households with nearly 500 people. However, after merging 3 hamlets: Hamlet 4, Hamlet 5A, Hamlet 5B into the new Hamlet 3, the population increased to nearly 2,000 people of more than 440 households, and the area was also nearly 3 times larger.
After the hamlet merger, Mr. Pham Hong Thoan still took on “two roles”, so his work became even busier, regardless of day or night, whenever there was work, he would go, whenever people needed him, he would come. For people like Mr. Thoan, being a hamlet cadre comes from the responsibility of a party member, because of the village and neighborhood ties, not necessarily because of the allowance, so many people call them “people who carry the prison and the whole village”. Besides admiring their dedication, many voters also worry about the work of hamlet cadres, when the allowance is still modest, but everything comes to hand, not to mention any funerals, weddings, housewarmings, children going to university… they are always the guests of honor. It is difficult to “manage”, especially for hamlet cadres who do not have a pension!
This issue was mentioned by many voters at meetings with elected representatives at all levels. According to the reflection, it is affecting the ideology and psychology of those working in the hamlet, leading to difficulties in finding people to take on the positions of Party cell secretary and hamlet chief in some places.
Concerned with the concerns of voters in the province, in the 4th Session of the 15th National Assembly, at the question-and-answer session on a group of issues in the field of Home Affairs, delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province questioned Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra: "I request the Minister to let me know when to submit to the Government for consideration the amendment of Decree No. 34/2019/ND-CP of the Government amending and supplementing a number of regulations on commune-level cadres, civil servants and non-professional workers at the commune, village and residential group levels?". According to the delegate of Nghe An delegation, the decision on the allowance level for non-professional cadres at the commune and village levels is under the authority of the Provincial People's Council, but the provincial level cannot increase this allowance level because Decree No. 34 has stipulated specific fund levels for each type of commune and village-level unit.
Responding to the opinion of the delegate from the Nghe An National Assembly Delegation, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra admitted that this is a hot issue, of interest to voters nationwide. In 2021 alone, the Ministry received about 100 petitions from voters, from National Assembly Delegations, and voters related to this issue. Currently, in our country, operating expenses are allocated to non-professional staff at the commune level and in villages and residential groups. However, in the commune, there are only 8 to 9 non-professional positions; while in villages and residential groups, there are only 3 positions: Party cell secretary, head of residential group, and head of the Front's working committee.
The head of the Ministry of Home Affairs admitted that the above regulations under Decree No. 34, especially the regulations on the number of non-professional cadres at the commune, village and residential group levels, show shortcomings in practice. In places with large populations, non-professional cadres are overloaded with work. Therefore, the Ministry of Home Affairs has carefully studied and fully and comprehensively evaluated Decree No. 34 and found it necessary to amend it to suit reality. "We promise the National Assembly deputies that this is a very hot issue because we have received too many recommendations from voters, so we will work as quickly as possible to report to the Prime Minister to amend Decree No. 34", Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra affirmed when answering the question of the delegate of Nghe An delegation.
Based on the recommendations of voters and National Assembly deputies, currently (late March 2023), the Ministry of Home Affairs has deployed to collect opinions to amend the Government's Decree regulating cadres, civil servants and non-professional workers at the commune level, in villages and residential groups. According to this Decree, the Ministry of Home Affairs proposes to increase the allowance fund for non-professional workers in each administrative unit at the commune level of types I - II - III from 16.0 - 13.7 - 11.4 times the basic salary to 21 - 18 - 15 times the basic salary (an average increase from 1.14 times the basic salary/person to 1.5 times the basic salary/person).
Also at the 4th Session of the 15th National Assembly, the Nghe An National Assembly Delegation brought to the parliament many concerns and worries related to natural disaster prevention and control. Because before the opening of the Session, in the early morning of October 2, 2022, in the border district of Ky Son, a terrible flash flood occurred in history, causing extremely heavy damage to the ethnic minorities there whose lives were already very difficult.
Speaking at the Dien Hong Hall, female delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh of the Nghe An National Assembly Delegation emphasized: “From 2011 to now, Ky Son district of Nghe An province has had 5 flash floods in just 11 years, including 3 terrifying flash floods. Those were 2011, 2018 and the early morning of October 2, 2022, which were “horrific floods in history”, “flood upon flood” and who knows when we will “settle down” if there are no resettlement areas for the people?!.”. Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh conveyed the most earnest wish of the people in the disaster areas in Nghe An in particular and other areas frequently affected by natural disasters and floods in the country to the National Assembly forum, which is that people need to “settle down and have a career”.
“I believe that not only me, but all of us are worried every time the storm season comes, especially the people in our localities. It is no longer a feeling of “worry” but “always afraid”. Perhaps the phrase “living with floods” originated from the Central provinces, the “guts” of the S-shaped strip of land. Every time it “cramps”, the heart of the whole country “bleeds” – the delegate of Nghe An Delegation emotionally said and recommended that the Government should immediately have strategic and fundamental solutions for localities that are frequently affected by storms, floods, inundation, and saltwater intrusion so that people can not only “live with floods”, “live with saltwater” but also adapt to “live with climate change” sustainably.
Deeply aware of the trust and expectations of more than 2 million voters of Nghe An province, the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An always upholds a high sense of responsibility, closely follows reality, and brings "the breath of life" to the parliament. Many recommendations of Nghe An voters under the jurisdiction of the Central Government have been forwarded by the National Assembly Delegation of the province to the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government, and central ministries, departments, and branches for resolution, such as the proposal to maintain, repair, and upgrade National Highway 7, which has been allocated 54.5 billion VND by the Ministry of Transport, implementing 6 projects in 2022 and 3 projects with a total cost of 33 billion VND in 2023.
In addition, the Nghe An National Assembly Delegation also actively worked with ministries, branches and central agencies to remove difficulties and obstacles for the province's development; especially at the National Assembly forum, the National Assembly Deputies and the National Assembly Delegation contributed important voices to the National Assembly to issue Resolution No. 36/2021/QH15 dated November 13, 2021 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Nghe An province.
Along with the recommendations related to the province, delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province said: From the recommendations of Nghe An voters, the National Assembly, the Government and the central ministries, departments and branches have received, studied and amended the regulations and general policies of the whole country. For example, the recommendation to stipulate that History is a compulsory subject in the High School Program has been included by the National Assembly in the Resolution of the 3rd Session, 15th National Assembly; or the inadequacy of the regulation that soil is not allowed to be transported out of the family's land area when people carry out the renovation of garden land has been included by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in the Law on Minerals (amended), expected to be submitted to the National Assembly in 2024.
Many opinions of Nghe An voters related to the proposal to increase the level of support for forest protection and the level of payment for forest environmental services; policies for specialized forest protection forces; recommendations to increase the level of support and regulations in cases of force majeure (such as due to tropical depression or damaged vehicles that have to come ashore) to support offshore fishing vessels even though they have not yet had 15 days in Decision No. 48/2010/QD-TTg dated July 13, 2010 of the Prime Minister on a number of policies to encourage and support exploitation, aquaculture and seafood exploitation services in offshore areas... were also acknowledged by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and proposed solutions to resolve them comprehensively nationwide.
At the conference to summarize the activities of 2022 and deploy the tasks of 2023 of the Nghe An National Assembly Delegation, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Nghe An National Assembly Delegation Thai Thanh Quy continued to request the delegates to actively delve into and learn about the reality to grasp the situation, stay close to the grassroots, and bring "the breath of life" to the National Assembly; at the same time, promote the strengths of each delegate in their specialized fields to have better quality opinions, affirming the position of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; organize more activities to meet with voters in addition to meetings with voters before and after each session of the National Assembly, including researching and innovating voter contact activities by locality, by topic, by subject, etc.
