Aspiration for development and the "secret" to help officials no longer fear making mistakes

In early June, in an interview with Dan Tri reporter, Central Party Committee member and Yen Bai Provincial Party Secretary Do Duc Duy happily shared about the improvement in the "happiness index" of this locality. "Yen Bai's happiness index is currently very good, reaching 62.57%. The decision to include this index in the Provincial Party Congress Resolution along with the philosophy of green, harmonious, unique and happy development is a correct decision," said Mr. Duy.

Recalling, also in a conversation with reporters nearly 3 years ago, Mr. Do Duc Duy was very passionate about Yen Bai's highlight when including the happiness index in the Resolution of the Provincial Party Congress. Explaining this pioneering direction, Mr. Duy said that if the issue of growth and budget collection is emphasized, Yen Bai will always be a difficult province, a poor province, with a low level of development. Therefore, the locality chose the direction of "how to make people satisfied and happy". The aspiration to "make a difference" therefore ignited in the idea of building a local development orientation in the new period of the leaders of Yen Bai province. Secretary Do Duc Duy said that before deciding to apply this index, the province consulted the experience of an economic and social research organization in the UK to "quantify" the happiness index. Accordingly, the happiness index of Yen Bai people is assessed on 3 criteria: Satisfaction with life (including satisfaction with economic and material conditions; relationship with family and society; social security, social welfare, social services; satisfaction with the activities of public agencies); assessment of the current average life expectancy in the province (including 3 levels: 65 years old, 70 years old, 75 years old) and satisfaction with the living environment (including the attention of the government in building urban and village landscapes; protecting the water environment and treating wastewater and waste; protecting forests and green environment). The happiness index is calculated by the formula: (Rate of satisfaction with life x Rate of assessment of average life expectancy) : Rate of satisfaction with the living environment.

To make the assessment of happiness more specific and accurate, the province proposed to divide it into different levels of happiness, specifically: Quite happy includes 2 levels: Level 1 (from 50-60%); Level 2 (from 61-70%). Happiness includes 3 levels: Level 1 (from 71-80%); Level 2 (from 81-90%); Level 3 (from 91-100%). Below 50% is classified as Unhappy. After conducting a sociological survey with indicators of local people, Yen Bai determined that the "happiness index" of local people is 53.3% - at "Quite happy level 1". The province strives to increase the happiness index to 15% by the end of the term - to "Quite happy level 2". Thus, up to now, Yen Bai has "reached the goal" of bringing the happiness index of the people to the "Quite happy level 2" mark. To do these things, according to the Secretary of the Yen Bai Provincial Party Committee, the most important thing is the work of cadres. Realizing the importance of this, Secretary Do Duc Duy said that the province pays great attention to the stages from finding sources to planning, training cadres early and from afar. "Yen Bai has a project on building and training a team of young cadres, female cadres, and ethnic minority cadres under the management of the Standing Committee. This project started in 2018 with the early selection of cadres, training and then rotating them to districts and departments so that cadres have knowledge, skills, and moral qualities," Mr. Duy said that this has had initial results.

According to the local point of view, young cadres must be sent to the grassroots, to difficult places to train their character. In Yen Bai, he cited the sending of cadres to the district level, setting a "task" for cadres that is "after completing the construction of a new rural commune, they will return to a higher position". In fact, there are cadres who have completed their targets in just 1-2 years and have been assigned new jobs, so they are very motivated to strive, according to the Yen Bai Provincial Party Secretary. Giving more information about the initial results of this, Mr. Duy said that from 4,000 people in the first recruitment round, the locality has screened 2,000 people, then through rounds of selection and training, finally selected 150 qualified cadres. "Up to now, 20 cadres have graduated from the project. The initial target was only to be department-level cadres and specialists, but a number of capable cadres have been appointed and elected to positions under the management of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee. For example, at the district level, they are members of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, at the provincial level, they are heads and deputy heads of departments and branches," said the Yen Bai Secretary. According to him, the budget for this is not much, but the effectiveness and significance it brings are clearly great.

The Resolution of the 13th Party Congress concretizes the aspiration for power with specific goals such as by 2025, Vietnam will be a developing country with modern industry, surpassing the low-middle income level; by 2030, Vietnam will be a developing country with modern industry, high-middle income; and by 2045, Vietnam will become a developed country with high income. "How to achieve that goal is still ahead, but human preparation is the most important," said Ta Van Ha, Vice Chairman of the Committee for Culture andEducation . According to him, the core of cadres should be carefully trained, planned, fostered, and used to meet the requirements and demands of the task. "In addition to perfecting institutions and taking advantage of current opportunities for Vietnam such as the golden population, the country's enhanced position, international support for Vietnam and the internal strength of the economy, we must focus on building a force with high-quality human resources to ensure the implementation of the set goals," according to Mr. Ha.

He said that if we wait until the "final stage" to "pave the sand for gold", there will be a shortage of human resources, so we must be one step ahead in preparing to build a team of "both red and professional" cadres. In addition, we must continue to have a mechanism to attract investment, exploit Vietnam's strengths in receiving and transferring the latest and most modern technologies in the world without spending much time on research. When mentioning the current situation of cadres who do not dare to do, push back, and avoid responsibility, Mr. Ha wanted to talk about another aspect when the legal system has not been completed. "Many people raise the issue of protecting cadres who dare to think, dare to do and consider that solution as a lifebuoy to solve the current story of pushing back and avoiding responsibility, but that is not the fundamental thing", according to Mr. Ha, it is necessary to find the reason "Why must we protect cadres", only then can we solve the root of the problem. If the problem comes from unclear legal regulations, Mr. Ha said that we must actively improve the legal system and legal corridor so that officials can work with peace of mind. In addition, the Vice Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Education emphasized that the selection of people must meet the requirements, avoiding the situation of "only choosing people who can do the job but leaving people who can do the job". Mr. Ha acknowledged that this is a disaster and a danger to the country. "In general, besides the story of selecting people, solutions for improving institutions, there must also be preferential policies to attract and retain officials with capacity, qualifications, and the ability to meet current requirements", the Vice Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Education emphasized that these things must be done immediately and synchronously. Ho Chi Minh City is a locality that has recently been mentioned as a typical example of the situation where officials do not dare to do things for fear of making mistakes. National Assembly Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City) said that this issue is not only for the city, but for the whole country. That is the reason why many National Assembly deputies continuously recommend the need to institutionalize laws synchronously and promptly.

For localities with special characteristics like Ho Chi Minh City, according to Mr. Ngan, there needs to be a special resolution with a superior institution. "If officials dare to think, dare to speak, dare to propose, and then it is institutionalized by legal regulations, it will certainly help them be more confident and handle their work better," according to Mr. Ngan. On the other hand, the delegate said that "it is good for officials to be afraid, not to be afraid is to worry." Because when officials know how to be afraid, they will be more careful in their work. However, if they are so afraid that they do not dare to do anything, Mr. Ngan said that they need to be bold in handling it. According to the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly delegate, when the fight against corruption and negativity is carried out resolutely, the people are very excited, and those working in state agencies are also more cautious because they know that if they make a mistake, they will have to take responsibility. Later, when Conclusion No. 14 of the Politburo was issued, emphasizing the encouragement and protection of officials who dare to think and act for the common good, Mr. Ngan said that it would create an important motivation to help officials be more confident in performing their duties. But more importantly, it is necessary to institutionalize this policy with specific legal regulations. "If the mechanism is legalized, officials will be more confident, solving people's pressing problems faster and more effectively," Mr. Ngan reaffirmed. From the specific perspective of the medical sector - a field with many current problems, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Tri Thuc (Director of Cho Ray Hospital) supported the proposal of delegate Tran Hoang Ngan.

" We are in dire need of a document to institutionalize and concretize Conclusion No. 14 of the Politburo on protecting cadres who dare to think and dare to do, especially managers in the health sector like us," Mr. Thuc emphasized that he is "extremely looking forward" to this. According to the delegate, current health sector cadres only hope for a strong enough legal corridor to boldly purchase, bid, develop expertise, and help patients overcome difficult times.

Looking at the story of "cadres afraid of making mistakes" from a local perspective, the Secretary of the Yen Bai Provincial Party Committee said that this story is common in many localities, but he affirmed that "in Yen Bai, there is no such thing". Because according to him, the most important thing is that the leader must dare to think and dare to do in order to be able to motivate cadres at all levels in the locality to boldly contribute for the common good. "If we don't do it, there will be no growth", Mr. Duy said and said that Yen Bai's growth in the first 3 months of the year reached 6.06% - nearly twice as high as the national rate. Referring to the reality of "cadres afraid of making mistakes", Mr. Duy said that there are many reasons leading to the above situation. First of all, it is because the legal system is not unified and synchronized between the codes of law, even within a law at different stages, the policies and regimes are also different. This makes the implementing cadres sometimes confused when applying. Besides, there is a reason due to the capacity of a part of the cadres at the grassroots level. Secondly, there are also cases where the capacity of the cadres at the grassroots level has not been deeply researched and has not fully grasped the provisions of the law, so when there are sufficient and clear regulations, they still feel confused, still feel stuck, and still ask their superiors.

Notably, according to the Yen Bai Party Secretary, the promotion of anti-corruption and anti-negativity and the handling of many officials and organizations that have committed violations have partly created a mentality of fear of making mistakes, avoiding and shirking responsibility. However, the head of the Yen Bai Party Committee affirmed that the most important thing is still the capacity and courage of the officials because if they do the right thing, there is nothing to be afraid of. "I don't know which localities to compare, but the spirit of Yen Bai is to closely follow the Government 's direction and we also strive to do a good job of investment preparation, the project implementation process must always be regularly inspected and difficulties and obstacles removed," according to Mr. Duy. He cited that the site clearance work in Yen Bai is also very difficult, but the province decided to establish a site clearance compensation council at the district level and assign responsibilities to each specific official to carry out. Emphasizing the need for high unity in leadership and direction from Party committees, Party organizations to the government and cadres at the grassroots level, Mr. Duy said that in the story of land clearance, although the provisions of the law are very complete and detailed, they do not cover all situations that occur in reality. Therefore, to ensure consensus between people whose land is recovered, the State and investors, according to Mr. Duy, there must be application of policy mechanisms. At that time, there are things that may be in accordance with the provisions of the law, but there are things that are only partially correct, so in Yen Bai, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee must have resolutions showing consensus so that the government and cadres at the grassroots level can apply that policy.

The prerequisite, according to Mr. Duy, is not to violate State regulations, not to cause loss or waste of State assets. "Another important thing is that cadres need to be proactive in proposing mechanisms; Party committees, authorities and leaders must also be bold in responding so that their subordinates can work with peace of mind. In the future, if inspection agencies conduct inspections, the heads of Party committees and authorities must also come forward to explain," Mr. Duy emphasized. According to him, the Central Government's regulations on cadre work are increasingly complete and strict, especially the regulations on protecting those who dare to think, dare to do, dare to innovate and create for the common good. The Government is also drafting a decree to specify and implement this policy. This is a necessary condition to solve the current problem of cadres being afraid of making mistakes.

12/06/2023

Dantri.com.vn