On the morning of February 15, Minister of Home Affairs Phạm Thị Thanh Trà addressed several issues raised by National Assembly deputies regarding the revised draft Law on Organization of Local Governments.
Local Decision, Local Action, Local Responsibility
According to Ms. Trà, the drafting committee will fully incorporate feedback from deputies to finalize the draft law and submit it to the National Assembly as soon as possible.
The Minister of Home Affairs noted that the principles guiding this law’s development are somewhat similar to those used in drafting the Law on Government Organization.
Ms. Trà emphasized that the focus is on clarifying and improving the decentralization, assignment, and delegation of authority to local governments in line with the guiding spirit of General Secretary Tô Lâm: “local decision, local action, local responsibility.”
Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà addressing issues raised by deputiesMinister of Home Affairs Phạm Thị Thanh Trà addresses issues raised by deputies (Photo: Phạm Thắng).
In addition, a robust legal framework will be established to resolve existing bottlenecks and challenges within specialized laws, ensuring the smooth implementation of decentralization, assignment, and delegation principles under the Law on Government Organization and the Law on Organization of Local Governments.
“As I reported earlier, out of 259 specialized laws, 177 clearly define ministerial authority, 152 specify the Prime Minister’s powers, and 141 outline the authority of People’s Councils and People’s Committees, overlapping with 92 laws covering all three levels. Without a proper legal mechanism to address these overlaps, it will be very challenging,” the female minister affirmed.
According to Ms. Trà, while the drafting committee proposes fundamental and comprehensive amendments, some temporary stability measures are necessary to ensure the smooth operation of local governments during organizational restructuring.
Regarding the operational principles and delineation of authority, decentralization, and delegation for local governments, Ms. Trà stated that these are highly valid concerns.
The drafting committee has studied these issues based on constitutional principles, Resolution 27 of the Central Committee, and directives from the Communist Party to design a more innovative structure and functioning of local governments, aiming for efficiency and effectiveness post-reorganization.
Comprehensive Evaluation of the Entire Political System’s Organizational Model
On the delineation of authority, decentralization, and delegation, Ms. Trà stated that the goal is to clearly separate the roles of central and local state agencies, ensuring national administrative unity and continuity.
Regarding the principles of decentralization, delegation, and assignment, the Minister of Home Affairs acknowledged deputies’ concerns about how to ensure localities can be genuinely creative, self-responsible in operations, adhering to the principle of “local action, local decision, local responsibility.”
“We have designed an overall framework to clarify relationships between entities, such as scope, forms, management, conditions, and responsibilities, aligning with management methods and legal frameworks for decentralization and delegation…” Ms. Trà explained.
Concerning opinions on the roles and responsibilities of People’s Councils, People’s Committees, and chairpersons of People’s Committees, the Minister of Home Affairs confirmed that the drafting committee closely followed Party guidelines and the Constitution to avoid overlap and ambiguity between collective and individual responsibilities.
The drafting committee will continue to review, inherit, and innovate to clarify individual and collective responsibilities, enhancing the accountability of local administrative leaders.
Regarding the organization and model of local governments, Ms. Trà confirmed that the current structure will be temporarily retained.
“We need to comprehensively evaluate the organizational model of the entire political system, which may lead to adjustments, so we are temporarily maintaining the status quo. Without this, there could be disruptions in the operation of local government systems and models,” Ms. Trà said.
On urban governance, Ms. Trà noted that existing National Assembly resolutions will still apply, and centrally governed urban areas can continue to propose changes without any obstacles.
Amid nationwide organizational restructuring, the Ministry of Home Affairs is collaborating with the Central Organization Department to assess and comprehensively study the organizational model, including the local government system. Therefore, the Minister of Home Affairs hopes for the National Assembly deputies’ support for the temporary retention proposal.
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