n its monthly meeting in late April, the government cabinet spent time assessing a proposal to form a government body called the Central Steering Committee of Anti-corruption.

On May 3, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly also announced that it will propose to the Parliament a plan to establish a judicial committee to oversee corruption investigations.

The law to combat graft will also take effect shortly. With all this on the cards, is the fight against corruption being fought on too many fronts? Or is it just hot air anyway?

Anti corruption – a long story

In 1994, the communist party clarified that corruption was one of the ‘major dangers’ to governance. However, little was done until commitment was further fortified in 2003, when the government ratified the UN convention on anti-corruption. Research, albeit fairly sketchy, has been done into the graft situation. Even the international donor community has offered a hand to the government by ushering in several pilot projects against corruption.

The idea of forming a government agency to combat corruption was first initiated by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in a Parliament meeting in November 2004. Discussion on the issue was running hot in the media, but establishing an actual operating mechanism curried little favour among government members at that time.

The issue has become a political hot potato in Vietnam on the heels of the Ministry of Transport scandal in January.

In the lead up to the party congress, political jostling often leads to airing of a lot of dirty laundry. This particular scandal arose after millions of dollars from ODA sources earmarked for road construction was misappropriated. Several senior government officials have been drawn into the whirlwind of the case, and investigators are still sifting through evidence. To date, evidence has been gathered showing VND37bil (around $US2.3 mil) had been misappropriated.

Bui Tien Dung – the General Director of the Project Management Unit 18 (PMU18), and Transport Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tien were imprisoned. Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh resigned from his position, and a plethora of other government officials have been indicted.

As the party beat its chest prior to its congress, rather than drumming up public appreciation, the case provoked a high level of mirth. The state owned media lashed out, with the propaganda machine stamping out a succession of formulaic articles pledging the usual ‘attacks against corruption’.

During the congress, around 70% of public petitions lodged for debate and addition to the party draft political report demanded stronger solutions be found to deal with corruption and wastefulness, according to state media reports.

At a pre congress press briefing, senior party member Phan Dien admitted that “Corruption is a threat to the survival of the Vietnam Communist Party.”

After the congress, the commitments were affirmed by the re-instated General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

Taking action

In a 2004 workshop called “Vietnam and the UN convention on anti-corruption”, models of an independent agency for corruption investigations were introduced. The issue of a stronger legal framework for the task was considered carefully. It then was translated into the enacting of the law on anti corruption and wastefulness which will take effect next month.

In another effort, the government cabinet in its April monthly meeting heard Minister of the Government Office Doan Manh Giao introduce the proposal for the establishment of a body to fight against corruption. As usual, the agency’s responsibilities, powers and the mechanism by which it would work were vague. Many ‘analysts’ have said that to ensure the system works, the agency would require independence and the means by which it would work with other government bodies must be clarified. Anything less than these prime points would simply replicate the ineffective inspectorate already in place.

In the meantime, the National Assembly has announced that it is planning to form a new judicial committee that would be responsible for overseeing corruption investigations.

At the provincial level, different ways of combating graft have been introduced with a view to more effective action. In Da Nang, recently the local newspaper was encouraged to start a column on the fight against corruption. HCM City’s Fatherland Front was applauded for its proposal of incentive based anti corruption work.

With a bunch of promises but still very little clear picture of how anti corruption activities would operate, there is still public hope that the new taskforce might see an end to corruption in Vietnam.

Source: VietnamNet