General Secretary To Lam: "As long as people still complain, it means the government is not operating effectively"

Regarding improving the operational efficiency of two-level local governments, General Secretary To Lam assessed that the apparatus has become stable and gradually effective, but still needs to be improved, especially at the ward and commune levels.

General Secretary To Lam speaks at the meeting with voters in Hanoi on the afternoon of September 23. Photo: VIET CHUNG

On the afternoon of September 23, to prepare for the 10th session of the 15th National Assembly , General Secretary To Lam and National Assembly deputies of constituency No. 1 of Hanoi met with voters of 11 wards, including Dong Da, Kim Lien, Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam, Lang, O Cho Dua, Ba Dinh, Ngoc Ha, Giang Vo, Bach Mai, Hai Ba Trung and Vinh Tuy.

Attending the meeting with voters were Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Bui Thi Minh Hoai, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Council Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Hanoi Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, and leaders of departments, branches and wards in the area.

Voters hope for stable real estate market

At the meeting, voters acknowledged and highly appreciated the Politburo 's issuance of many important resolutions in 2025, including Resolution 71 on breakthroughs in education and training development.

General Secretary To Lam and National Assembly deputies of Hanoi City met with voters. Photo: VIET CHUNG

Voter Nguyen Van Lam (Ngoc Ha ward) hopes that the 10th session of the National Assembly will soon institutionalize this resolution to create fundamental changes in education work, and at the same time request the National Assembly and the Government to pay attention to the budget for grassroots health care, universal health insurance, improve the quality of medical examination and treatment, and reduce costs for people.

Voter Nguyen Van Lam also frankly commented that in reality, there are still cases where laws have just been issued and then have to be amended and supplemented. The implementation of public investment projects is still delayed, capital is increased, budget allocation is unreasonable; management and supervision are not strict...

Expressing special concern for the real estate market, voter Pham Xuan Mai (Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam ward) asked the National Assembly to have solutions to control real estate prices, avoid unusual fluctuations, especially prevent the situation of "inflating" prices too high, so that workers have the opportunity to settle down.

Observing the practical operation of local government at two levels in recent times, voters recognized that the workload of commune and ward levels is very large, due to receiving additional tasks from district and county levels, while the number of specialized departments and offices has decreased, causing difficulties in work.

He suggested that the Central Government should have a project to specifically study the work needs of local administrative agencies, and conduct practical surveys to build a suitable operating model to ensure effective operations. Along with that, research should be done and have a roadmap for synchronous investment in information technology infrastructure, equipment and human resources, avoiding haste and chasing after targets and achievements.

Hanoi voters attend the meeting. Photo: VIET CHUNG

Referring to the widespread situation of "dirty" food, which is deeply affecting public health, longevity, labor, race development and weakening national strength, voter Hoang Thi Ai Lien (Dong Da ward) acknowledged that converting to green, clean, sustainable agriculture and safe agricultural products is a huge challenge, but if we know how to organize and choose the right way, we will succeed and spread this model. Ms. Lien hopes that the State will build mechanisms and policies to protect and encourage businesses and farmers to produce cleanly.

Civil servants do not consider state agencies as "safe havens"

Speaking after listening to voters' opinions, General Secretary To Lam shared the good news that after 9 months, many indicators have achieved positive results, typically the State budget collection results for the first 9 months of 2025 have met the plan, reaching the target 3 months ahead of schedule. In addition, the General Secretary also pointed out many shortcomings related to administrative procedures. "We must continue to review, remove unnecessary ones, manage them in other ways, reduce the burden on local authorities and the people," the General Secretary said.

Responding to voters' opinions, comrade To Lam mentioned 5 groups of issues.

The first issue relates to improving the operational efficiency of two-level local governments.

The General Secretary assessed that the apparatus has been operating stably and effectively step by step, but it still needs to be improved, especially at the ward and commune levels. “All Party guidelines and policies must be resolved at the grassroots level. Wards must resolve them for the people, and must not ask people to go here or there,” the General Secretary requested. According to the General Secretary, as long as people still complain, the government is not operating effectively.

The General Secretary also encouraged civil servants not to consider state agencies as a “safe haven”, but instead, when not working in the state, they can contribute to the private sector or start their own businesses to create material wealth. “Previously, our policy was that you could enter but not exit, once you entered the state, you would retire, but now we have to recalculate it to be reasonable. Doctors working in private hospitals also examine, treat and take care of people's health”, the General Secretary cited.

The second issue , regarding job positions, according to the General Secretary, is important to determine the payroll and adjust salary policies. However, this must be done with a roadmap and calculation, do not let prices increase before increasing salaries.

The third group of issues is to improve the quality of healthcare, with the view of shifting the mindset from treatment to prevention. The General Secretary proposed to strictly control factors that have the potential to affect people's health, including food safety issues, as the voter just mentioned.

The General Secretary suggested that each locality can take advantage of surplus headquarters to build food centers that ensure food safety, invite the most famous stores to enter, and exempt taxes for the first 1-2 years to gradually help people give up the habit of eating on the sidewalk.

General Secretary To Lam and National Assembly deputies from constituency No. 1 of Hanoi met with voters. Photo: VIET CHUNG

Regarding the fourth group of issues , science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation, the General Secretary emphasized: “The most developed countries in the world are countries that develop science and technology. Trillionaires of thousands of dollars are billionaires who develop through technology. Getting rich through industry takes hundreds of years, but getting rich through technology only takes 10 years.”

The fifth issue is to improve the quality of education and prevent brain drain. Sharing with voters about the Politburo's issuance of Resolution 71 on educational breakthroughs and the country's gradual universalization of preschool, primary and secondary education, the General Secretary affirmed that the country currently has sufficient conditions to universalize high school education.

“The other day, I asked what difficulties we face when we universalize high school education. The Ministry of Education and Training said it was due to a lack of schools, classes, and teachers. The State must take care of that. In the past, the children's families did not have money to pay tuition, but now the State takes care of the tuition. If students graduate from junior high school but do not enter high school, what will they do? Will they just hang around? Then we will have to spend more time dealing with this problem,” the General Secretary shared.

Along with that, the General Secretary emphasized the viewpoint of universalizing high school education and reducing exams. Going further, we must continue to reform education. From reducing tuition fees to sending children to school and then free textbooks to ensure equality, then promoting and attracting talents... This is a path with many difficulties, but only then can we realize the aspiration for development.

MR. PHUONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tong-bi-thu-to-lam-chung-nao-dan-con-keu-ca-tuc-la-chinh-quyen-hoat-dong-chua-hieu-qua-post814369.html