Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Trần Anh Tuấn

HÀ NỘI — Renewing management mechanisms and reducing the number of employees on the State payroll are needed to replace incompetent civil servants with qualified ones, said Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Trần Anh Tuấn.

Ministries, sectors and localities are all implementing Politburo Resolution 39 on reducing the number of State officials and other tasks such as wage reform and regulations on civil servant recruitment and State officials classification as part of efforts to enhance the quality of civil servants and Government operations, he said at a press briefing yesterday.

Concerning claims that VNĐ17 trillion (US$762 million) was used each year on wages for the 30 per cent of civil servants not competent enough to carry out their duties, Tuấn said that the information was incorrect.

He affirmed that there was not any official survey showing that 30 per cent of State officials were incompetent. He added that civil servants had made great contributions to Việt Nam’s achievements.

On the ministry’s responsibility in proposing the appointment of Trịnh Xuân Thanh as Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Hậu Giang Province, who was found accountable for massive losses at a major State-owned oil company he chaired, and was censured for illegally using a Government licence plate on his private car, Deputy Minister Tuấn said the ministry built plans and set up a task force to work with relevant agencies to inspect the responsibilities of individuals or groups involved in Thanh’s crimes.

Results of the inspection will be publicised, he said.

Regarding accusations of nepotism by officials in appointing relatives to positions of power in some localities, Deputy Head of the ministry’s Department of Civil Servants Trương Hải Long said the ministry was amending regulations on appointing State officials.

He said the ministry proposed the Politburo issue regulations and review mechanisms to control the use of power by authorities and strictly handle those violating Party discipline and State laws.

The ministry had built a master plan on renewing methods to choose management leaders that was approved by the Politburo, he said. - VNS