Strong decentralization of mechanisms and resources to localities

BTO-Continuing the working program of the 6th Session, this afternoon, October 30, at the National Assembly House, under the chairmanship of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, the National Assembly continued to discuss in the hall the implementation of the National Assembly's Resolutions on National Target Programs. Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong chaired the meeting.

Participating in giving comments, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan Province Nguyen Huu Thong affirmed: This is the first time the National Assembly has simultaneously supervised 3 National Target Programs. With a huge workload, the Supervisory Delegation has had an appropriate and scientific approach, so the supervision results show a comprehensive picture of the implementation and initial results of the 3 programs. The supervision also clearly demonstrated the viewpoint, efforts and companionship of the National Assembly with the Government in implementing these humane and meaningful programs.

Delegate Nguyen Huu Thong said that the beneficiaries of these three programs are very specific, namely farmers, the poor, ethnic minorities, and areas with extremely difficult economic conditions; requiring the State and the entire political system to take care of them soon.
However, the results achieved in the past have not been as expected. “There are many reasons, both subjective and objective, including some main reasons. First of all, the legal framework and the documents directing, operating and guiding the implementation of the 2021 - 2025 period issued by the Central and local governments have been slow, not synchronous or have not yet issued instructions. According to the report, by the fourth quarter of 2022, the Central Government has basically completed the instructions, I would like to emphasize that they are only basic” - said delegate Nguyen Huu Thong.

The delegate gave an example of the application of Circular No. 53/2022/TT-BTC dated August 12, 2022 of the Ministry of Finance, which has some contents that have not been guided for spending; some spending contents require the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the People's Council of the same level for specific decisions on the support level, which has affected the process of budget preparation and capital disbursement; at the same time, it is not flexible in adjusting the capital allocation and use plan. The Circular also cites many other documents, leading to difficulties in looking up and implementing, especially at the grassroots level. Some localities reflect that in order to implement a work content, commune officials have to research, review, compare, and apply dozens of regulations and instructions from higher levels.

There are also some difficulties and problems in the implementation of Decree No. 27/2022/ND-CP regulating the management and implementation mechanism of national target programs. To overcome these difficulties, the Government issued Decree No. 38/2023/ND-CP dated June 24, 2023 amending and supplementing Decree No. 27. However, when implementing Decree No. 38, some problems continue to arise, such as the regulation that the People's Committee at the commune level confirms the unit price for purchasing products, goods and services calculated according to the market price in the area at the same time; or the regulation on "payment and disbursement of capital to representatives of community groups and related parties according to the implementation progress in the contract signed with representatives of community groups". Thus, when participating in a community production and service project, capital must be invested to implement it first, and only after acceptance can payment be made, while project participants are poor households, households in difficult circumstances, have no money, no knowledge of planning or accounting. The above regulation is no different from challenging the people!

Affirming that the second cause comes from the human factor, including ministries, branches and localities, delegate Nguyen Huu Thong said: “The mechanisms, policies and regulations on procedures are all issued by central ministries and branches, but through supervision, there are still many shortcomings, not close to reality, and cumbersome procedures, as stated by the Prime Minister at the group discussion on October 25, that “With such a jungle of procedures, it is inevitable that there will be problems”. On the other hand, the delegate affirmed that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers have continuously issued directives but ministries, branches and localities have not been proactive and have not sat down together to resolve them. Meanwhile, the poor, ethnic minorities, remote areas, islands, and areas with difficult socio-economic conditions are eagerly waiting for the correct and humane decisions of the Party and State to come into effect so that they can enjoy and escape poverty.

Therefore, delegate Nguyen Huu Thong proposed that the National Assembly, the Government, ministries, branches and localities urgently review and promulgate mechanisms and policies that are complete and feasible. At the same time, strongly decentralize mechanisms and resources to localities, which are inherently local responsibilities, "The Central Government should do the work of the communes, and it is inevitable that there will be problems", as stated by the Prime Minister.

Along with that, the Government submitted to the National Assembly permission for the Provincial People's Council to decentralize to the People's Committee of the same level to decide on the order, procedures, criteria, and sample documents for selecting projects, plans, and production development models in implementing the National Target Programs. At the same time, it proposed to extend the implementation and disbursement period until December 31, 2024 for the State budget capital of programs that have not been fully disbursed in 2023 to ensure sufficient resources for localities to continue implementing. Pilot decentralization to the district level to proactively decide and adjust the capital structure and list of investment projects to implement the programs.

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