Realizing a strong, wise government for the people

Affirmed right in the Preamble of the Constitution

The August 1945 General Uprising was victorious, overthrowing and completely eliminating the feudal colonial political regime, taking power into the hands of the people, turning our people from slaves to masters of the country. On September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence, declaring to the nation and the world the independence of Vietnam, establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. "That was an extremely great change in the history of our country".

President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence at Ba Dinh Square on September 2, 1945. Photo: Document

Absorbing the essence of state organization methods of countries around the world, President Ho Chi Minh, with his strategic thinking and foresight, prepared very early the model of a democratic state in our country after gaining independence. In his work The Revolutionary Path (1927), he wrote: "... how can we, after the revolution, hand over power to the majority of the people... then the people will be happy".

The idea of ​​“the majority of the people” and happiness was applied by Him immediately after the founding of the country through the effort to organize and build a local government serving the people with the core elements of the new administration: Establishing institutions; educating officials on public ethics; preventing and combating power corruption . He advocated “Implementing a strong and wise government of the people” and affirmed this policy right in the Preamble of the 1946 Constitution.

Protect the People's Government

Along with the urgent drafting of a democratic Constitution and General Elections, President Ho Chi Minh decided to immediately establish the organizational and operational institutions of local governments. He signed and issued many decrees to build a state in the spirit of democracy and progress, ensuring constitutionality and legality. These include Decree 63-SL dated November 22, 1945 and Decree 77-SL dated December 21, 1945 on the organization of People's Councils and Administrative Committees in communes, districts, provinces, cities and towns. These are the first two legal documents in our country's legislative history on local governments to realize the values ​​of democracy in political and social life at the grassroots level. These two Decrees and the work "Organization of People's Committees" by President Ho Chi Minh ( September 11, 1945 ) are the institutional foundation of local government and a source of law of special national value.

After the formation of the civil service, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized the particularly important task of selecting cadres, educating them on public service ethics and training them. He pointed out: "...without ethics, no matter how talented, one cannot lead the people", " The People's Committees of villages and prefectures are a form of local government that must be selected from those who are fair-minded, loyal, enthusiastic about the people's interests, have the ability to work, and are trusted by the majority of villagers. It is impossible to rely on money or any other force to get into those Committees ". We must choose people who have the will to fight, have close contact with the people, understand the people, always pay attention to the interests of the people; people who are decisive, brave, not afraid of hardships when taking charge of work and always maintain discipline... only then will the people trust and love them. He advised that we must know how to use people according to their talents, and constantly cultivate theories. For cadres, "practice without theory is like having one eye clear and one eye blind."

He also saw the chronic diseases of other States and warned early on about "evil and rotten things", the problem of buying positions and power, "posing as "revolutionary officials", relying on power, taking advantage of others, embezzlement, corruption, forming factions and said: "We must severely punish dishonest people, regardless of their position or profession" to prevent and combat the degeneration of power and protect the people's government.

Strengthening the responsibility of cadres and direct supervision of the people

79 years of national history, the people are very excited and confident about the great achievements in socio-economic development; the country's foundation, potential, position, international prestige and positive results in the fight against "internal invaders". In 2023, Vietnam's GDP will reach about 433.3 billion USD, ranking 5th in the region and 34th in the world (according to CEBR). The people's satisfaction index (SIPAS 2023) is at 82.7%, with the provinces of Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen and Hai Duong at the top. Vietnam's corruption perception index ranks 83/180 countries (according to Transparency International - TI).

Entering a new revolutionary stage, continuing to build and perfect the Vietnamese socialist rule-of-law state, building a strong, wise, honest, and people-oriented local government following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, requires further strengthening the supervision and control of state power in local governments, especially personnel work.

To have a theoretical and practical basis to perfect the mechanism of the People directly controlling state power according to Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW dated November 9, 2022 of the Party; first of all, it is necessary to soon organize a scientific summary of the work of local government officials, with the participation of social criticism from the people. From there, research and perfect the institution of People's participation in the process of selecting, promoting and evaluating officials; innovate the election mechanism; research the voting of Vietnamese citizens living abroad... Organize a pilot implementation at each level of local government.

When discussing personnel work in preparation for the 14th Party Congress, the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized: Personnel work must be carried out according to a strict, scientific and consistent process, ensuring true impartiality, transparency and objectivity, especially "having a discerning eye". To have that "discerning eye", we must rely on the people because "the people know everything!". And time is the test of the people's hearts.

Secondly, it is necessary to regularly inspect and educate local government officials to comply with the collective leadership style and individual responsibility, gathering collective intelligence according to Ho Chi Minh's ideology.

In recent times, the expensive lesson of a series of key officials and heads of local governments being disciplined and prosecuted before the law all have a very dangerous common point, which is disregard for the principle of democratic centralism - the vital principle of our Party and State organizations. There are many reasons, but mainly due to the degradation of the quality of officials; due to ineffective supervision, inspection and examination work; or due to interest groups that have neutralized inspection and examination, eliminated struggle under the guise of "collective formality", in order to legitimize arbitrariness, abuse of power, turning the power given by the People into personal power for personal gain; and due to the lack of a mechanism for people to effectively supervise the power they have given. A few people lamented “regret” for “losing cadres” (!), but the majority of people thought the opposite, they thought it was a gain, not a loss, because the more “revolutionary officials” and “internal invaders” were eliminated, the stronger the government would become. It was a natural elimination, there was nothing to “regret”.

Finally, early research and institutionalization of the Party's policy on building a local government governance model suitable for each locality, in order to enhance the responsibility of cadres and direct supervision of the people, and prevent corruption and negativity. This is a new proactive and positive approach, requiring creativity and flexibility in thinking as well as political determination to innovate the organization and operation of local governments, towards the goal of building a state administration that serves the people, is professional, rule of law, modern, effective and efficient. in the spirit of Resolution 6 of the Party Central Committee (Session XIII).

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/quoc-hoi-va-cu-tri/hien-thuc-hoa-chinh-quyen-manh-me-sang-suot-vi%CC%80-dan-i386443/