The urge for responsibility

By Son Nguyen in HCMC

Damages have been done out of inability, from poor prediction about rice output to bad forecast about weather resulting in historic flooding in Hanoi, from abrupt changes in monetary policies to awkward reactions to widespread pollution, and from neglect in food hygiene management to inadequate electricity development. All such problems as a matter of course have been tabled at the ongoing National Assembly sitting, capturing interest from all walks of life.

NA deputies over the past three days, with their questions posed to ministers and the Prime Minister, have revealed to the public how top officials have exercised their mandates to what extent and in what fashion. More interestingly, the questions and answers session shows how ministers take responsibility for the damages done to the people.

While certain answers heap praises, many also take criticisms from NA deputies and the public as well, as seen on the local media.

The falling rice price is the most critical issue being debated, as scores of deputies highlight huge damages incurred by farmers due to a ban on the signing of new rice contracts with foreign buyers in the middle of the year. Deputies say the move strips farmers of a unique chance to fetch high prices for their crop.

Agriculture minister Cao Duc Phat says he is totally responsible for the wrong forecast, while minister of industry and trade Vu Huy Hoang claims partial responsibility over this issue.

Deputy Le Thi Dung from the key rice-growing province of An Giang attacks minister Hoang for his ‘partial responsibility’. She says the trade minister’s answer is out of question, skipping the responsibility in advising the Government over rice export. “You (the minister) are head of the rice export management team. Who should be responsible for huge damages incurred by farmers due to the falling rice price from US$1,200 a ton to US$300 a ton?” she is quoted by Tien Phong.

Deputy Dung goes further to say that “taking partial responsibility means not assuming responsibility,” adding the trade minister owes the people an apology.

Lao Dong highlights the different attitudes of the two ministers on the same issue, wondering why the agriculture minister assumes responsibility while the industry and trade minister manages to evade his responsibility. “What the people really want to see is that responsibility must be pinpointed upon a wrong prediction,” says the newspaper.

The confusion of responsibility is also scrutinized in another issue: the safeguard on the part of State agencies for food safety.

Around one quarter of imported fruits in Vietnam contain chemical residues that will affect the people health, as advised by the World Health Organization, says Tuoi Tre.

Health minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu explains that the agriculture ministry is responsible for insecticides and herbicides, the industry and trade ministry responsible for food additives and coloring agents, while “the health ministry will only set up the barrier when the food reaches the people’s dining table.”

Upon the answer, deputy Nguyen Thi Bach Mai from Tay Ninh Province fires back: “Which ministry is responsible for this problem?” according to Tuoi Tre.

Another sizzling hot issue is the widespread pollution, the most notorious case out of which is the discharge of untreated wastewater by the MSG producer Vedan Vietnam into the Thi Vai River, turning it into the dead waters.

Pressed for solutions to address the problem, environment minister Pham Khoi Nguyen gives a noteworthy comment: “Violations causing environmental pollution take root from the past,” according to VietnamNet. The news website as well as other newspapers attack the minister for his failure to close down Vedan Vietnam as promised for causing grave consequences to the environment.

Nearly 300 questions have been raised by deputies over the past three days, urging officials to be held responsible for their unaccomplished mandates. The key aim is not only to pinpoint responsibility, but to go far beyond that so as to have remedial measures for the problems facing the country’s socio-economic development. “Assuming responsibility is not simply a populist act, as the main aim is to make corrections,” says Lao Dong. Regarding the issue of rice price, a reader says on Tuoi Tre that “it goes nowhere if the minister concedes mistakes and accepts sanctions but fails to find outlet for rice.”

On greater lengths, the newspaper says the main goal is to review and rethink all basic principles in the State policy towards farmers, rather than to find faults with officials in designing policies. This is the urge for responsibility.

(From The Saigon Times Daily)

Other related posts: