Deputy Trần Du Lịch speaking at the on-going NA session yesterday. The most outstanding imprint left by the 13th National Assembly (NA) during its tenure was the 2013 Constitution, which upholds human rights, citizens’ rights and the rule of law. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI (VNS) — The most outstanding imprint left by the 13th National Assembly (NA) during its tenure was the 2013 Constitution, which upholds human rights, citizens’ rights and the rule of law, lawmakers said at the on-going NA session yesterday.

During the discussion on a report presented last Tuesday reviewing the NA’s performance in the 2011-16 period, the majority of deputies spoke highly of the legislative body’s adoption of 222 codes, laws, resolutions and ordinances besides the Constitution.

However, the deputies also spoke candidly of shortcomings in the NA’s performance, and proposed numerous solutions to enhance the future quality of lawmaking, supervision and Q&A sessions, and the settlement of pressing issues related to the national economy and people’s welfare.

Deputies maintained that the challenges facing the next tenure would not be modest, and would require the whole NA and State apparatus to work together much more smoothly, precisely and efficiently to cope with upheavals in the future.

They expressed the hope that, along with the success of the 12^th National Party Congress, the coming elections for the NA and People’s Councils at all levels would be really democratic, with the most competent personnel chosen for the new tenure.

Expressing his agreement with the contents of the NA report, deputy Nguyễn Anh Sơn from Nam Định Province stressed the “debt” the 13th NA owed to voters nation-wide is the continued protection of sea and island sovereignty, and maintaining the fight against corruption.

Regarding the Q&A sessions, Sơn said the practice was one of the highlights of the tenure.

“Through Q&A sessions, NA deputies could put forth voters’ concerns on national social-economic problems at NA platforms, calling on the Government, appropriate ministries and other sectors to seriously address these concerns,” said Sơn.

“Ministers are no longer afraid of being questioned. Some even long for the Q&A sessions at NA meetings. This is a promising signal that the NA and the Government are increasingly willing to incorporate and address pressing social issues.”

In order to improve the NA’s efficiency during the next tenure, deputy Nguyễn Quốc Bình from Hà Nội, called for the body to create adequate means of coordination between the NA, Government agencies and other social-political organisations.

Bình also asked the NA to consider the development of the e-National Assembly project during the next tenure. The project is key to improving exchanges and connections between NA deputies and NA committees, deputies with the NA and Government bodies, and deputies and NA bodies with voters. To that end, the NA would be completely reformed to perform its functions in a timely, scientific and efficiently manner.

Approaching similar matter, deputies Trần Đình Long (Đắk Lắk), Đào Tấn Lộc (Phú Yên), Trương Minh Hoàng (Cà Mau), Nguyễn Thị Khá (Trà Vinh), Trương Trọng Nghĩa (HCM City), Trần Hoàng Ngân (HCM City), Nguyễn Đức Kiên (Sóc Trăng), Nguyễn Văn Cảnh (Bình Định) and Dương Trung Quốc (Đồng Nai) all provided thorough analyses, and proposed many ideas to fortify the work of the NA in the coming tenure.

They agreed that it was necessary to strengthen the organisational and personnel apparatus, and to study solutions to improve the quality of debate at NA platforms. They also suggested mechanisms to help voters supervise the opinions expressed by each deputy on particular matters, to renew mechanisms for selecting NA candidates, and to “reduce” the workload of specialised NA deputies.

Deputy Trần Khắc Tâm of Sóc Trăng Province said over the past tenure, the NA and NA deputies haven’t been able to satisfy all the expectations from voters, and have failed to create breakthroughs that would enable the country to develop as “friends” in the world as fast as it could.

“The crucial and most urgent duty of the NA in the time to come is to complete apparatus reform. A well-performing apparatus will help Việt Nam overcome limitations quicker, integrate more successfully and develop sustainably,” said Tâm.

In his opinion, Deputy Huỳnh Nghĩa of Đà Nẵng said the NA has failed to fully exercise its power, and its anti-corruption inspections were not strong enough. He also said that some law making lacked focus, and that many laws did not meet the “requirements of reality”. The deputy called for sanctions in cases where law-drafting and verifying agencies created laws that were not feasible to implement.
Deputy Trương Thị Huệ of Thái Nguyên Province complained about the frequent adjustments to the law building programme and to delays in submitting draft law documents to NA deputies, which gives deputies little time to study the bills.
Another problem is the vague stipulations of some laws, which then required more documents to guide their implementation. Given the time it takes to issue such guiding documents, “legal gaps” were created that allowed for laws to be circumnavigated, she said.
Many deputies proposed increasing the proportion of full-time deputies in order to enhance the professionalism and quality of NA operations.
Deputy Nguyễn Văn Tuyết from Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province said his constituents called for raising the proportion of full-time deputies to 60 per cent.

About a draft working report delivered by the State Auditor General, discussions focused on the use of the auditing outcomes, State Audit Office’s activities and addition of sanctions against units which fail to comply with the office’s requests following audit process.

As scheduled, the NA will scrutinise working reports of the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court and Prosecutor General of the Viet Nam Supreme People’s Procuracy today. The meeting will also be broadcast live nationwide. — VNS