Streamlining the apparatus to practically combat waste

Recently, General Secretary To Lam has continuously emphasized the issue of streamlining the apparatus, most recently at the first meeting of the Central Steering Committee on summarizing the implementation of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the 12th Central Executive Committee "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be lean, effective and efficient" (hereinafter referred to as Resolution 18). Previously, in early November, General Secretary To Lam wrote an article on streamlining the apparatus to be lean, strong, efficient, effective and efficient, stating that after 7 years of implementing Resolution 18, we have achieved a number of important results, initially creating positive changes in innovation, reorganizing the apparatus, improving the operational efficiency of agencies, units and organizations in the political system. However, the head of our Party frankly admitted: “Up to now, the organization of the political system is still cumbersome, with many levels and focal points; the effectiveness and efficiency of operations have not met the requirements and tasks; the functions, tasks, powers, organizations, and working relationships between many agencies and departments are not really clear, still overlapping; the division of responsibilities, decentralization, and delegation of powers are not synchronous and reasonable, there are places where people make excuses, places where they miss out or do not invest appropriately…”

This situation is really worrying. Recently, Delegate Vu Trong Kim (Nam Dinh Delegation) shared at the National Assembly forum: "A minister told me that if my ministry reduced its staff by 30-40%, it would not be a problem". The consequence, as shared by General Secretary To Lam in the discussion session in the National Assembly on October 31, is that the budget is having to spend nearly 70% on salaries, regular expenses, and operations. Meanwhile, in other countries, this spending level is more than 40% and they have at least over 50% of the budget to serve development, national defense, security, education, health, and social security. Therefore, when mentioning the streamlining of the apparatus and devoting resources to development, General Secretary To Lam emphasized: "Without streamlining the apparatus, development cannot be achieved" and "from now on, the Central level, the Party's committees, the National Assembly, and the Government must take the lead".

Reality shows that there have been positive movements from the Central Government. On November 19, the Central Steering Committee on reviewing the implementation of Resolution 18 held its first meeting. Previously, on November 18, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man signed Resolution No. 1297 of the National Assembly Standing Committee establishing the Steering Committee on reviewing the implementation of Resolution 18 at the agencies of the National Assembly, agencies under the National Assembly Standing Committee, and the Office of the National Assembly. On November 16, the Government also established a similar structure with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh as Head of the Committee to review the implementation of Resolution 18 under the Government's management, in order to study and propose tasks and solutions to review the implementation of Resolution 18. Clearly, in the matter of streamlining the apparatus, the Central Government is urgently and actively implementing tasks in the spirit of "running and lining up at the same time".

The movement from the Central level will create a breakthrough because if the Central level is streamlined, the localities will be streamlined: Without ministries, the province will have no departments, and without departments, the district will have no offices. Streamlining the apparatus will therefore have a major impact on rebalancing the state budget expenditure situation in the direction of reducing regular expenditure and increasing investment for development. This is clearly consistent with the current major policy of our Party, which is to increase savings and combat waste. Reality in Bac Kan shows that after two mergers (in 2019 and 2021), at the grassroots level alone, the whole province has reduced 14 commune-level administrative units (11.47%) and 129 villages, residential groups, and sub-regions (9.08%), equivalent to reducing about 1,600 people working in villages and residential groups, saving about 140 million VND/village/group/year.

Thus, the first problem that can be seen is that streamlining the apparatus will lead to excess headquarters. Right in Hanoi, it can be seen that after merging administrative units, many state agency headquarters are redundant, unused, or even abandoned, such as the headquarters of the Department of Data Collection and Application of Statistical Information Technology located on To Hieu Street, Ha Dong District. Although located in a place considered to be a valuable asset, this headquarters is almost abandoned, with locked doors and seriously degraded facilities. When the work of streamlining the apparatus is promoted, the number of redundant public headquarters will certainly increase. So how can we effectively use these headquarters to avoid wasting public assets?

More importantly, it must be seen that streamlining the apparatus will involve a reduction in the number of positions and titles, and redundant labor. So how will personnel be arranged? Who will be the ones to be cut? What are the criteria for those who will be cut? These are all issues that need to be discussed thoroughly, done fairly and accurately, and importantly, require sacrifice and sharing from the relevant personnel. If after streamlining, the apparatus remains people who are talented, dedicated, and have the pioneering spirit of cadres and party members, then that is wonderful, and streamlining will bring efficiency, effectiveness, and efficiency. However, if after streamlining, there remain children of the boss, members of interest groups, harassers, extortionists, etc., and the brain drain continues, the consequences will be unpredictable. Therefore, speaking on November 19, General Secretary To Lam emphasized that streamlining the organizational apparatus must be associated with restructuring the staff with sufficient qualities and capacity to meet the tasks.

Another issue is what will the surplus labor do after streamlining the apparatus. Here, the issue of career guidance and retraining is very important, so that the labor force leaving the public system is ready and well integrated into the private system. Besides, we also need to prepare in advance in terms of ideology and policy so that cadres and everyone can understand the major policies of the Party and State, not to worry about the days ahead, not to give rise to dissatisfaction and negativity, and to foster social instability...

The ancients said, “Quý ý ý, không quý ý”. Streamlining the apparatus is to follow the direction of “quý ý ý”, but when the “quintessence” stays, the important thing is to create an environment for them to demonstrate their talents, while also building a good treatment regime to ensure that they can work with peace of mind. With the trust of the leaders, creating conditions for them to develop, not having to worry about food and money, the “quintessence” that stays will strive, contribute, and serve the Fatherland.