Offices and organisations are currently misusing different levels of ‘confidential’ documents to hide and limit the public of their clandestine actions. Will this problem be amended to ensure transparency?
Foreign consultants have made very clear that public transparency was the first compulsory condition to effectively fight corruption. This must go into the State’s policies and regulations on social management. People will not be able to provide adequate supervisory oversight, if everything is not transparent.
The State Inspectorate has already lodged a petition to the Government, asking it to re-stipulate the promulgation of documents it publishes, except those documents about national security and State secrets.
It is impossible to say that every document is confidential.
There is a Government policy which regulates that ministries and companies must have a "spokesperson" in charge of providing information to the press and the public. How do you evaluate the implementation of this in the past years? What does the draft plan say about the rights of the press and people in accessing information?
The "spokesperson" regulation has been implemented in many ministries and industries. This, in my opinion, is a sound measure to provide information to the press, through which people are able to understand the policies and laws of the Party and Government, as well as providing relevant information for civil authority activities.
Yet, the regulation has not yet been strictly implemented in many places. I have received many complaints from journalists and people about the problem. It is difficult to say in specific, but many ministries, central offices, cities and provinces are inadvertently or intentionally hiding information. They are also providing only part of the truth, which causes people to not be able to access sufficient information.
The State Inspectorate will complete the regulation in the draft plan about the corruption prevention strategy to maintain the role of "spokesperson" as a way to tell the truth to the press and people.
The pending report on property and income of government officials has not been finished. Why is it so late? Why have some offices refused to publicise the income of their staff?
Publicising income is a fundamental target to fight corruption, but it depends on each country’s conditions to implement it, of which the financial control system is a legal basis.
At present, transactions are mainly in cash. So, in essence, the portion of publicised income is very small, while the unpublished one is fairly big. It is only a formality, if we ask them to publicise their income immediately. Such publicity will only have an effect if national income is controlled through the banking system.
In addition, the constitution also regulates to not publicise some issues relevant to personal properties. In the coming time, the constitution will probably have to be amended, and legal documents created to help people have oversight over the property and income of government officials and civil servants.
Then, once it is discovered that people are embezzling funds, there must be methods to make the person accountable for his actions, even if he no longer works.
Is there any sanctions for officials who delay making their income public?
Although the State Inspectorate already supervised and tried to push organisations, many officials were very slow to publicise their income.
There are many reasons, I think.
Under the regulation, they must complete enumerating their property and income by December 31, 2007. But many officials in enterprises, cities and provinces could not finish it on time, because they had to concentrate on their economic development duties.
The draft plan on anti-corruption strategy by 2020 will expand the number of people required to declare their property and income, while regulating their accountability to explain the origin of their property and income.
It will also regulate payment through accounts for expenditures paid from the State budget to government officials.
Source: VietNamNews
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