The quality of grassroots people’s committee personnel must be given great importance with the abolition of people’s councils in 10 cities and provinces, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said on Friday.

The best staff must be selected to serve the people’s of committees of the 99 districts and 483 wards that would be without People’s Councils from today, he told a meeting to preview the prog-ramme in Ha Noi.

The councils will be abolished in Lao Cai, Vinh Phuc, Nam Dinh, Quang Tri, Phu Yen, Kien Giang and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces as well as Ha Noi, HCM City and Hai Phong.

“Implementation of the pilot programme is part of the State’s administrative reform,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

“Its target is to simplify and synchronise the mechanism and make it effective.”

“The ideological work in each city and province selected for the programme should be so well done that it creates a consensus within the political system for the programme’s implementation,” he said.

“The implementation must also accord with local socio-economic development.”

The Deputy Prime Minister urged the people’s committees included in the programme to quickly and regularly report any difficulties arising from its implementation.

Home Affairs Minister Tran Van Tuan answered questions from representatives from the 10 selected cities and provinces at the meeting.

These included the procedures for the election of People’s Committee chairmen and their deputies.

The minister said that he, his ministry and relevant agencies would work closely with the municipalities and step-by-step to ensure the programme’s implementation.

But grassroots people’s committees must be quickly re-organised so they could begin work immediately after the councils were abolished, he said.

How it works

People’s councils oversee people’s committees, approve their expenses and supervise local law enforcement. Elected by those they represent, people’s councils, in turn, select members of people’s committees.

The National Assembly approved the trial abolition of People’s Councils last November.

Its purpose is to provide the residents of districts and wards the chance to directly elect their People’s Committee chairmen and promote grassroots democracy.

VietNamNet//VNS