With $1 billion, Vietnam can change its system of bureaucratic civil servants into a contingent of enthusiastic and qualified people, said a senior expert from the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM).

 

Le Viet Thai, head of the CIEM’s Economic Institution Department, who chairs the research project entitled “Strategic vision on governmental institute and implementation roadmap”, says that the administrative apparatus is cumbersome and ineffective because tasks and responsibility are not clearly defined.

 

Thai tells Tien Phong Daily about the project.

 

What does your group discover after researching the government apparatus?

 

We have learned the operation of many ministries. Each ministry has its own decree on its functions, missions and organization. The functions and missions of 19 ministries (the group did not research the three ministries of Public Security, Defense and Foreign Affairs) cover hundreds of pages. The functions and missions of all departments, centers and institutes under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development alone are over 100 pages long.

 

 

The recent merging of ministries is not effective because the government could reduce some ministers, but many more chiefs of general departments appear. The functions and missions of merged ministries do not change.

 

In addition, many functions and missions of ministries are overlapped. Some ministries still perform functions and missions that are only appropriate for the centrally-controlled economy.

 

Could you make this point clear?

Some ministries have the same functions in managing investment capital, ODA. Many ministries still implement unnecessary missions in the market economy, for example the grant of business licenses and sub-licenses.

 

There are dozens of commercial fields and products which are managed by central plans like in the centrally controlled economy. The state should be only interested in the areas and products in the form of network (traffic system, power grid, system of seaports, etc.), or the fields that are essential for the economy (oil and gas).

 

Why does this situation exist though the government which has strived for implementing administrative reforms?

 

We have only renovated administrative procedures, which is form. For example, previously it took companies a month to get the business registration certificate and now it is shortened to several days. But why we do not abolish the business registration certificate? That is the reform in substance.

If the administrative apparatus’ unnecessary functions and missions are not cut down, we will not have premise to perform administrative reforms basically and effectively. This is the most important reason for the existence of a cumbersome and ineffective state apparatus.

 

The collective working system of the old time is still active and it prevents the state from making transparence its decision making procedures and implementation and enhancing the responsibility of state agencies and civil servants.

The power, responsibility and benefit are share to many agencies and many individuals in the system, resulted in overlapping in functions and missions. In this system, anyone has power and benefit but nobody takes responsibility before citizens for the authorities’ tasks.

This system does not encourage talented people but tolerates unqualified people at different positions in the system. As a result, the state apparatus is still ineffective after a long time of taking reforms.

But the state may lose its tools of management, if your viewpoint is accepted?

The State needs to work out which missions that it needs and can do, and those that it does not and cannot perform, so it can reject unnecessary tasks. For the missions that it must perform, it needs to define whether it needs to have an apparatus to perform the missions or not. If not, the state can let’s civilian organizations or businesses to do these missions. That’s my way of approach.

If the State can clearly define its missions, the state apparatus could be tidy. The State only needs to keep core parts, mainly policy makers. Thus, it can deal with problems of the wage policy for civil servants.

 

How can we achieve that reform?

 

We need highly political determination and a period of time to refresh the current team of civil servants. It is not simple to turn a system of civil servants who are concentrating on granting and giving activities into a system of civil servants who are capable to make plans and decision.

I have joked that if the state is determined to change the contingent of civil servants that way, we can perform renovation at low cost, only $1 billion. I will ask civil servants of 50 years old to retire, but they will receive salary until they are 60 years old. I will recruit new ones. But it is very difficult because this is the matter of interest.

 

What suggestions does your group report to the government?

Our report likes a 3D picture that can help the government to see many angles. If the government accepts our suggestions, we will take following steps.

What are they?

 

This is a very favorable chance for us to carry out deeper research on the institution, the government apparatus, the relations between executive body and the leadership of the Party and the National Assembly. From the research, we will propose solutions to make the state machinery to work more effectively.

 

Especially, this is a favorable opportunity for reforms when the National Assembly is working on the amendments to the Constitution. The current Constitution has many regulations which have been applied for over 20 years. These regulations are outdated and need to be changed. If the Constitution is not amended but only laws are changed, our suggestions will violate the Constitution.

If the Constitution is not amended, we will be unable to amend many laws and to renovate the entire government apparatus

 

Vietnamnet/ Tien Phong