Clarifying responsibility for the slow implementation of the National Target Program for Ethnic Minority Areas

On the morning of June 7, the National Assembly continued to question Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Minorities Committee Hau A Lenh. Previously, participating in the questioning of Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Minorities Committee Hau A Lenh, National Assembly Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai (Hanoi delegation) stated that the Government's report No. 100 showed that the Ethnic Minorities Committee cited a number of reasons for the slow implementation of the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas due to weather, Covid-19, and international fluctuations.

However, Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai requested to clarify the subjective causes and responsibilities of the Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee for allowing this situation to occur?

Responding to the question, Minister Hau A Lenh said that the Ethnic Committee has reported to the Government and taken responsibility before the Government for the slow implementation issues under the responsibility of the Ethnic Committee in the 2021-2022 period.

clarify responsibility for the slow implementation of the national target program for ethnic minority areas 1 — National Assembly Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai debates.

According to Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee Hau A Lenh, in June 2021, the Prime Minister approved the investment decision, after which the Prime Minister assigned ministries and branches to develop guiding documents. At this time, the ministries and branches were able to implement the documents and by the end of 2022, the implementation was basically completed.

“The implementation process has been slow due to many reasons, including subjective reasons. We take responsibility before the Government. I also remember that at the National Assembly session in October 2022, the Government took responsibility before the National Assembly. After that, the Government directed very strongly to resolve the issues and basically completed it,” said Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee Hau A Lenh.

Minister Hau A Lenh said that among the documents implementing the national target program, the Ethnic Committee is only responsible for two circulars, while the other nine documents are the responsibility of ministries and branches.

In the coming period, the Ethnic Committee pledges to do better in its role of inspecting, urging and resolving difficulties for localities in the process of implementing documents.

clarify responsibility for the slow implementation of the national target program for ethnic minority areas 2 — Minister, Chairman of the Ethnic Committee Hau A Lenh answered questions.

Responding to concerns of National Assembly deputies about capital allocation, Minister Hau A Lenh said that the Ethnic Committee coordinated with ministries and branches to advise the Government to submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee and the National Assembly has allocated sufficient capital in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 120, which is 104,000 billion VND of central capital for the period from now to 2025, including investment capital of 50,000 billion VND and public service capital of 54,000 billion VND. In addition, in the capital structure allocated for the program, there are a number of other capital sources, including credit capital of 19,700 billion VND and local counterpart capital of 10%, about over 10,000 billion VND.

The National Assembly Resolution also assigned the Government to mobilize non-state budget sources and the above capital sources of about VND 2,027 billion from ODA sources, and encouraged the mobilization of some other social capital sources. According to Minister Hau A Lenh, in 2021 and 2022, due to COVID-19, businesses are operating with great difficulty, so there is no need to raise the issue of mobilization during this period.

Continuing to debate the Minister's response, Chairman of the Ethnic Committee Hau A Lenh, National Assembly Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai emphasized: "Regarding capital allocation, the Minister clearly stated that it is all handed over to the locality, which is not correct in terms of responsibility."

Because according to National Assembly Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai, Resolution 120 has assigned capital allocation to the Government and the Ethnic Committee is the agency in charge of synthesizing, monitoring and supervising. But up to now, at the parliament, the Minister said that this issue has been assigned to the locality, that is the responsibility of the locality. Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai found that this is not appropriate.

Regarding capital structure, Resolution 120 clearly states that during the operation process, the Government is responsible for urging to increase investment spending. Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai stated that the task of increasing investment spending is very clear, but when reading Report No. 100 of the Government, the allocation for seminars and consulting work is not reasonable. The delegate believes that while resources are limited, people still have many difficulties and urgent needs, our investment in seminars and consulting is unreasonable.

Participating in the debate at the meeting this morning (June 7), through following the response of Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Committee Hau A Lenh to the opinion of Delegate Vu Thi Luu Mai, Delegate Lam Van Doan (Lam Dong delegation) said: The Government's Report clearly stated the issue of contradictions between legal documents.

clarify responsibility for the slow implementation of the national target program for ethnic minority areas 3 — Delegate Lam Van Doan (Lam Dong delegation) debated.

According to Delegate Lam Van Doan, the Ethnic Committee is the governing body, but the issuance of documents under the National Target Programs is not only the responsibility of the Ethnic Committee but also the responsibility of many ministries and branches. The Proposal to amend Decree No. 27 also stated that there is a contradiction in the fact that the Law on Public Investment does not stipulate the use of public investment capital to directly support or partially support households in the ethnic minority and mountainous area program. Therefore, localities do not have enough basis to implement activities to support housing, residential land, and production land under Project I of this Program and have not been able to disburse funds in 2022 and 2023.

To resolve the difficulties and obstacles of this project, the Government has issued a special mechanism other than those prescribed by the Law on Public Investment and is preparing to submit it for promulgation, and must also seek permission from competent authorities.

In addition, the application of the Budget Law is also different. With the same housing support, the poverty reduction program uses career capital, while the ethnic minority program uses public investment capital. The delegate said that there are many unreasonable things in the application of the laws.

Delegate Lam Van Doan stated: “In addition, during the question and answer session yesterday afternoon, the Minister also shared that the Government is urgently amending documents under the authority of the Government and ministries and branches to resolve difficulties and problems in re-demarcating especially disadvantaged communes and villages.”

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