Promoting People's Ownership in Electing and Supervising the Activities of Commune-Level Government Officials

The plan for departments and divisions must ensure that each teacher has a certain amount of time to go on field trips inside and outside the province.

Based on the plan assigned by the province, the Provincial Political School carries out training and fostering for communal-level government officials, gradually improving the quality of teaching (including both teaching and learning quality). In order to meet the learning needs of communal-level government officials, especially in the current situation, when the Ordinance amending a number of articles of the Ordinance on Cadres and Civil Servants is implemented, the need to study and improve the qualifications of communal-level government officials becomes more urgent. The Provincial Political School must have a plan to open intermediate classes, professional and technical training classes, and move towards building a university-level training program for communal-level government officials. To do so, the Political School needs to have a team of teachers who meet the new requirements and tasks. Regarding training and fostering methods, it is necessary to combine centralized and in-service training. In addition to intermediate political theory classes, intermediate office administration classes, and elementary political theory classes, there should be additional intermediate classes that directly serve the work of commune-level governments, such as intermediate law classes, economic management classes, etc. For the training program for commune-level government officials, it is also necessary to add necessary knowledge about professional expertise, state management skills, and economic management. However, the key thing now is to link training and fostering cadres with cadre planning. Cadres can only feel secure in studying when they are sure that only by studying can they complete their tasks, and that studying is a necessary condition for them to have stable, long-term work. To do this, it is necessary to link studying with cadre planning, with the arrangement and use of cadres after training, with the assessment and evaluation of cadres. Every year, the Provincial Political School and district political training centers open training classes to update information on politics, law, and state administrative management skills.

3.2.4. Promote people's mastery in electing and supervising the activities of communal-level government officials

Government officials must talk less, do more practical work, respect the masses, and care about the interests and aspirations of the people every hour and every minute. Cadre work must be legalized and democratized, must receive maximum supervision from the masses, and attract the masses to participate in state management activities. Cadre planning work must be made public so that the people can share the responsibility to help. In the work The Immediate Tasks of the Soviet Government,

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Lenin pointed out: "How can the entire people really learn management work and begin to take on management work?" [31, p. 250].

It is necessary to strictly implement, ensure democracy and transparency in all steps of organizing the selection of cadres, from creating sources to verifying records, personal history and submitting to competent authorities for approval of the list of cadres. Focus on selecting cadres who meet the standards suitable for the positions, are passionate about their work, dedicated to the movement, dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility. But at the same time, promptly detect and remove from the list of cadres those who are profiteers; those who always seek to take advantage of the situation for personal gain, are content with their lot, do not dare to do, dare to take responsibility; those who always hinder, cling to their comrades and do not want anyone to progress more than them.

Implementing the grassroots democracy regulations well will create conditions for Party organizations, unions and the masses to introduce people with virtue and talent to run for election, or be elected to key leadership positions at the commune level. The team of communal government officials will be truly strong, have the support and trust of the masses and will certainly operate more effectively.

Regarding elections: This is a very important task in personnel work, it determines the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the commune-level government apparatus. Because if the right cadres with qualities, abilities and prestige are elected to key leadership positions, the commune-level government will be strong, the grassroots movement will grow, and prestige will be created among the people. On the contrary, if the wrong people are elected, elected cadres who do not have enough capacity, prestige, virtue and talent to do government work, it will be one of the reasons for the instability of the commune level, the local movement will stagnate or regress, causing loss of trust among the people.

Implementing the Resolution of the 3rd Conference of the 8th Party Central Committee "On promoting the people's mastery, continuing to build a clean and strong Socialist Republic of Vietnam", the Politburo issued Directive No. 30/CT-TW dated February 18, 1998 and the Government issued Decree No. 29/1998/ND-CP dated May 11, 1998: "On building and implementing the grassroots democracy regulations", aiming to promote the mastery and mobilize the great material and spiritual strength of the people in socio-economic development, improving people's lives, raising people's knowledge, building Party organizations and commune-level governments.

clean, strong, prevent and overcome degradation, bureaucracy and corruption of communal government officials.

In order for people to participate in building, inspecting and supervising the activities of the communal government staff effectively, the Regulations on implementing democracy at the grassroots level stipulate 14 main matters that the communal government must be responsible for informing the people; 7 matters for the people to discuss and decide directly; 7 matters that must be discussed by the people before the People's Council and People's Committee at the communal level decide (or submit to the competent authority for decision) and 10 matters that the people must supervise and inspect.

The regulations on the contents that must be announced to the people, the contents that the people can discuss and decide directly, the contents that the people can give their opinions before the People's Council, People's Committee or competent State agencies decide, and the contents that the people can supervise and inspect are closely related to each other. The people know to not only fulfill their obligations and responsibilities, but also to exercise the right to inspect and supervise according to the provisions of law. Among the four groups of rights mentioned above, there are cases related to all four groups, but there are also cases related to only one of the four groups. The process of exercising those rights has different natures, levels, and implementation methods, so when propagating and explaining, it is also necessary to clearly point out the organic relationship between the groups of rights and obligations in order to attach the people's responsibility to state management activities, and at the same time to promote the people's mastery. Thereby, people have gradually raised their awareness of their right to mastery, actively participated in state management, monitored government activities, and contributed to overcoming the degradation, bureaucracy, and corruption of a significant number of cadres and party members.

The most obvious achievement of promoting the role and mastery of the people is the regulation that the people are allowed to discuss and directly decide on important and practical issues related to their interests. However, the process of implementing the democratic regulations at the grassroots level also has limitations that need to be overcome. These are:

Democracy at many grassroots levels is still heavily formalistic and a movement-style show. This leads to a situation where at first the people enthusiastically support it, but later the people become indifferent to the government, thinking it is the job of the government officials.

Some elements also take advantage of democracy to entice and incite, causing difficulties for the government in carrying out activities, especially activities related to land. The situation of mass complaints often stems from the confusion in handling the situation of the authorities at all levels, especially the commune authorities.

Strictly implement the grassroots democracy regulations, cadres self-criticize before the people. From the hamlet chief to the People's Council Chairman, the People's Committee Chairman of the commune, ward, and town, there should be a self-criticism report sent down for people to contribute opinions, comments, and evaluations, and at the end of the year, there should be a vote of confidence. It is also possible to study to put positions such as the People's Council Chairman, the People's Committee Chairman at the commune level for direct election by the people.

Through the implementation of the democratic regulations at the grassroots level, it is shown that: Communes, wards and towns that know how to apply the content of the democratic regulations to build action programs, aiming to create a sense of mastery among the people right in the process of implementing the democratic regulations to promote the internal strength of the people, effectively carry out the notification work for the people, create conditions for the people to directly discuss, directly do and directly supervise and inspect have promoted the representative democracy regime well, improve the quality and effectiveness of the activities of the People's Council and People's Committee. There, the team of commune-level government officials is strong, people's lives are improved, the movements are strong, of good quality, and the formality in the activities of the People's Council is minimized.

3.2.5. Innovation in training and fostering of commune-level government officials

Cadres are the most important factor in building and consolidating a strong communal government. At the same time, to build and consolidate a strong communal government, it is necessary to improve the quality of communal government cadres. Ensure the building of a cadre with sufficient capacity and qualities to carry out the innovation that our Party has initiated.

In reality, in localities with strong commune-level governments, it is because of the strong commune-level government staff. And in localities with political hot spots, many complaints and denunciations, the first cause begins with the weakness of the staff. Although the commune-level government staff of Phu Tho province has been consolidated and selected through the election of the People's Council for the 1999-2000 term, the quality is still uneven compared to the new requirements of the country and the locality. Even

The team of key officials at the commune level still has many limitations, so training, fostering and improving the quality of the entire team of officials at the commune level in the whole province is currently very urgent.

Communes, wards and towns are places where all policies of the Party and laws of the State are implemented into reality. All activities of communal-level government officials have a direct impact on the lives of the people. Whether the prestige of the Party and State is built and consolidated or not depends on the qualities, capacity and qualifications of the communal-level government officials. Therefore, for officials who have degraded moral qualities, weak capacity and qualifications that cannot be overcome, they will not be arranged to study, receive training and improve their qualifications. In the immediate future, we must make good use of the existing staff, and at the same time actively prepare the next generation of officials. Because officials with high qualities and capacities are not natural products but products of the process of training, fostering and training of officials by the Party, the State and of the individual official. That official must have a process of self-cultivation, striving and training.

Training and fostering of communal government officials must be closely linked to staff planning. Each key official position must have 2 to 3 people prepared, with a plan to send them for training. At the same time, appropriate staff standards must be developed for each position, on that basis, the officials have a direction to strive for.

In training and fostering cadres at the commune level, one factor must also be taken into account: The commune level in Phu Tho province is currently mainly in rural areas, so the team of commune-level government cadres mostly come from farmers. Therefore, the team of commune-level government cadres has its own characteristics, so when introducing training and fostering programs, appropriate attention must be given.

Based on specific criteria, communes, wards and towns should develop plans for cadres to be sent for training, not just limiting training and fostering after they have been elected as is currently the case. It is necessary to develop standards on professional qualifications, skills and moral qualities required when running for or being nominated for key leadership positions at the commune level. Do not assign cadres who are too old (over 50) or cadres who do not have qualifications or capacity, as well as cadres without professional degrees to hold key cadre positions as well as professional cadre positions at the commune level.

Building a staff planning project linked to a staff training plan to avoid the current situation of staff shortage and having to use untrained staff. However, we must also take into account the situation that if we send staff for training without a plan, we will fall into a situation of having a surplus of qualified staff but lacking staff with practical capacity at the commune level, and lacking staff with professional expertise suitable to the needs of the commune level.

Vietnam is facing the urgent need of the transition to a market economy, regional integration and globalization - an inevitable and irresistible trend. To proactively integrate into that trend in the most effective and fastest way, and to soon escape the situation of slow development and backwardness, it is necessary to have a team of commune-level government officials with professional qualifications, dynamism and creativity in management and operation to directly impact this transition process, in order to fully exploit the potential factors hidden at the grassroots level.

Therefore, it is necessary to create a favorable environment for the communal government staff to improve their qualifications. There needs to be material support and spiritual peace of mind. On the basis of economic and social innovation and development, it is necessary to gradually improve the intellectual level of the people. Practice shows that whether all policies and guidelines of the Party and laws of the State are strictly implemented and highly effective or not depends not only on the high or low quality of the communal government staff but also on the intellectual level of the people.

In the difficult socio-economic conditions of Phu Tho province, the qualifications of the communal government staff are still low, and the educational level of the majority of the population is not high. The fundamental issue now is to continue to develop the economy, on that basis to improve the lives of the people, of the staff in general and especially of the communal government staff. This is an issue of special importance to the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country, and the construction of new rural areas. Economic development requires the communal government staff to constantly improve their capacity in political theory, professional expertise, and moral qualities... to meet the requirements of state management and social management, and to meet the requirements of the revolutionary tasks.

3.2.6. Innovation of regimes and policies for commune-level government officials

The system of policies and regimes for the team of communal government officials includes: Policies on training and fostering officials; policies on using and managing officials; policies on ensuring material benefits and spiritual encouragement for officials... These are important goals in the process of improving the quality of the team of communal government officials. In the above sections, policies on training, fostering, using and managing officials were mentioned... In this section, we only discuss policies on ensuring material benefits and spiritual encouragement for the team of communal government officials.

Renewing the policy system, especially the policy of remuneration, ensuring material benefits and spiritual encouragement for the team of communal government officials is an urgent requirement to attract talents and stabilize the team of communal government officials in the long term. The allowance, living expenses and social insurance regime for communal government officials are decisive to the morale and quality of work of the officials. Implementing Decree No. 09/1998/ND-CP dated January 23, 1998 and Decree No. 175/1999/ND-CP dated December 15, 1999 of the Government, the living expenses of communal government officials have significantly improved. However, there are still many unreasonable things that need to be further studied, revised and supplemented.

In reality, communal government officials are not yet considered a profession, while the Constitution and laws consider communal government officials as one level in the four-level administrative system of the state (central, provincial, district, communal). Communal government officials do not receive salaries but only "living expenses". It is because our system of regimes and policies is not yet synchronous and lacks unity that it still causes questions among communal government officials.

Decree 09/1998/ND-CP dated January 23, 1998 of the Government stipulates that cadres in 4 professional positions at the commune level who have been trained, have professional qualifications, and have worked stably and long-term in the commune are entitled to apply the living allowance according to the coefficient of the civil servant rank and grade prescribed in Decree 25/CP dated May 23, 1993 of the Government, but only after 5 years of work if they meet the standards can their living allowance be increased (meanwhile, for commune health workers with university degrees, it is 3 years, and for intermediate level or lower, it is 2 years, it is increased by one grade), which also causes unreasonableness and questions among the cadres of the commune-level government.

In the Ordinance amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Ordinance on cadres and civil servants, commune-level government cadres are called state civil servants, receiving salaries from the budget.

State. However, Article 5a of the Ordinance clearly states: "The Government prescribes the titles, standards, obligations, benefits, things that cannot be done, and other regimes and policies for commune-level cadres and civil servants prescribed in Points g and h , Clause 1, Article 1 of this Ordinance." Although the Ordinance amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Ordinance on cadres and civil servants took effect from July 1, 2003, up to now, the Government has not issued any document regulating or guiding the implementation of this Ordinance. At the same time, the Ordinance only stipulates recruitment conditions, termination regime, reward and discipline regime for the subjects in Point h : "Those recruited and assigned to hold a professional title under the People's Committee at the commune level". As for point g : "Those elected to hold positions for a term in the Standing Committee of the People's Council, People's Committee; Secretary, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee; Head of socio-political organizations of communes, wards, and towns (hereinafter referred to as commune level)" then in Clause 2, Article 39 stipulates: "The dismissal and discipline of cadres specified in Point a and Point g , Clause 1, Article 1 of this Ordinance shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of law and the charter of political organizations and socio-political organizations".

Innovating policies for commune-level government officials, in the process of implementing the Ordinance amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Ordinance on civil servants, it is necessary to:

One is: Redefine the staffing of communes, wards and towns to suit each locality, avoiding the current situation of equalizing staffing.

Second: The Government needs to promptly promulgate regulations on regimes and policies related to the team of communal-level government officials according to the provisions of the Ordinance. At the same time, there should also be documents guiding the implementation of the Ordinance, specifying which subjects are state officials and civil servants, and the professional standards that communal-level government officials need to have when taking on assigned positions.

Third: For the team of village chiefs, hamlet chiefs... there also needs to be additional policies and regimes appropriate to their positions, roles and level of contribution to the work.

To innovate the treatment policy for commune-level government officials, it is recommended that the government should apply salary policy; recruitment policy; appointment policy; training and professional development regime; reward and discipline regime as for state officials. In addition, there should also be a regime of encouragement and reward for those officials.

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