Can't 'line up and then run'!

In his article “Straight - compact - strong - effective - efficient - effective”, General Secretary To Lam requested to promote decentralization and delegation of power with the motto “locality decides, locality does, locality is responsible”, the Central, Government, and National Assembly play a constructive role and strengthen inspection and supervision. The General Secretary’s article makes us think: Why is it necessary to promote decentralization and delegation of power and what is the significance of this in streamlining the state apparatus?

According to experts on state organization, decentralization and delegation are two different concepts, although closely related. Confusing the two concepts will lead to a situation where regulations on decentralization and delegation are confusing and difficult to apply in life.

The 2013 Constitution and the 2023 Law on Organization of Local Government have defined: Decentralization is the division of powers between levels of government, between the central and local governments, and between levels of local governments.

Decentralization is not the transfer of power from the Central Government to local authorities for implementation, nor is it the power of the Central Government being handed over to local authorities according to the administrative hierarchy between superior and subordinate levels.

The powers between levels of government are exercised by law on the basis of the spirit and provisions of the Constitution on the powers and responsibilities of central state agencies and local governments.

The powers assigned by the Constitution and the Law on Organization of Local Government to each level of government are the independent powers of each level, establishing the autonomy and self-responsibility of each level of government before the people and before the law.

In decentralization, there is no administrative hierarchy. Decentralized agencies are public legal entities elected by the people, have full legal status, have their own assets, budgets, and resources and are autonomous in deciding on local government issues.

Decentralization is a concept associated with state management, a method of transferring management authority from superior to subordinate levels according to administrative hierarchy. This is the transfer of tasks and powers held by superior agencies to subordinates to perform regularly and continuously, with superiors supporting, providing conditions and means, inspecting, supervising the implementation and evaluating the results of the implementation of the transferred powers.

However, there is still a gap between theory and practice. There is a situation where power is concentrated in central agencies, and the rights of localities are not fully implemented. On the contrary, localities themselves do not "dare" to exercise some of their powers, waiting for instructions from superiors or "working while looking up".

Many issues are clearly within the authority of ministries, but the ministers do not decide but “respectfully refer” them to the Government. Many issues are within the authority of localities, but the provincial secretaries and chairmen insist on waiting for the Central Government’s opinion.

The situation that the General Secretary pointed out - "the division of responsibilities, decentralization, and delegation of powers is not consistent and reasonable, there are places where people make excuses and do things for them, and places where they miss out or do not invest appropriately" - is partly due to the fact that the current Law on Organization of Local Government only defines issues of general principles, and has not clearly defined specific principles, scope of responsibilities, and decentralized rights.

The focus of decentralization is shifted to specialized laws, while these specialized laws have not yet clearly defined the scope of decentralization to local authorities.

Another part is due to the slow change in thinking and awareness about decentralization and delegation between the central and local levels. According to the assessment of the President of the Vietnam Association of Administrative Sciences, Dr. Tran Anh Tuan, currently there has been no change in decentralization, only focusing on decentralization and delegation. Decentralization and delegation are only formalities, in reality (subordinates) still have to ask for opinions, reach consensus, and reach agreement (with superiors) before making a decision.

Meanwhile, reasonable and clear decentralization and delegation of powers ensures the unity and integrity of state power throughout the entire national territory, ensuring the central government's control over local governments. At the same time, this also ensures the autonomy and self-responsibility of each level of local government in deciding and resolving all local development issues.

In the revolution to streamline the state apparatus under the direction of the General Secretary that "time does not wait", reasonable decentralization and delegation of power help us move faster towards the goal of "streamlining - compactness - strength - efficiency - effectiveness - efficiency" of the entire political system.

The Law on Organization of Local Government stipulates: Local governments are autonomous and self-responsible in performing their delegated tasks and powers. State agencies at higher levels, within the scope of their tasks and powers, are responsible for inspecting and examining the constitutionality and legality in performing the tasks and powers delegated to local governments at all levels.

This is completely consistent with the General Secretary's request in his speech at the 13th Party Central Committee Conference (November 25, 2024): Party committees, party organizations, agencies, units, all levels, all sectors, first of all, leaders and heads need to be exemplary, proactive, and determined in performing assigned tasks in the spirit of "running and lining up at the same time". The Central Committee does not wait for the provincial level, the provincial level does not wait for the district level, the district level does not wait for the grassroots level. Determined to complete the summary of Resolution 18-NQ/TW and report to the Central Executive Committee on the plan to arrange and perfect the organization and apparatus of the political system in the first quarter of 2025.

A specific example of clear decentralization and delegation of authority associated with the spirit of "everyone runs together, no one has to wait for anyone" is that the district level, according to its authority, plans to merge departments, not waiting for the plan to merge provincial departments, the provincial level does not wait for the completion of the plan to merge ministries at the central level.

If the situation of communes waiting for districts, districts waiting for provinces, provinces waiting for the Central Government or vice versa continues, then it is not "running while queuing" but "running after queuing". This cannot lead to the success of the "streamlined - compact - strong - efficient - effective - efficient" revolution for the state apparatus!