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D ISC LO SU R E

ầm

TR A N SPA REN C IN ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL

AU TH ORITIES IN VIETNAM ẴT PR E SEN T

A/Prof, Dr. Tra T D eu Oa 1

I trodut o

Disclosu e and t anspa ency in local gove nment activities a e the esponsibility
of the State in the p ocess of exe cising democ acy, building up integ ity and c eating
gove nments Publicity and t anspa ency of local autho ities at g ass oots levels a e
aimed at st engthening people’s confidence in the ope ation of the state appa atus in
o de to stabilize politics, economy and society In ecent yea s, ho is t anspa ency
and publicity implemented? Ho do people pa ticipate and evaluate this activity? If
the e a e many limitations and obstacles, hat a e the ecommendations needed to
ensu e disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ation of local gove nments? These a e
the issues that ill be explained in the a ticle

A overv ew o format o d sclosure a d tra spare cy act v t es of
local aut or t es

T anspa ency in management activities is an obviousness, hich can also
be conside ed as a eason fo the existence and the sou ce of the po e of a public
autho ity T anspa ency is fi stly aimed at ensu ing the democ atic natu e of society,
demonst ating the people’s ight to pa ticipate in state management T anspa ency is
also a ve y impo tant solution fo ed essing ed tape, b ibe y and co uption, cleaning
up the management appa atus T anspa ency in management is also an indispensable
condition fo the state appa atus to acqui e kno ledge of the people fo management
activities T anspa ency is also an essential equi ement fo being successful in
inte national integ ation

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T anspa ency means implementing a egime of info mation disclosu e and

t anspa ency in all State management activities, except fo those matte s elated to the
national defence and secu ity hich need to be kept sec et It is necessa y to emphasize
that: info mation disclosu e is associated ith t anspa ency, because the e a e cases
he e the e is disclosu e but not t anspa ency as the authenticity and sound basis of
the published issues have not been stated clea ly

In the economics, the fi st action is to disclose info mation and make
t anspa ent plans, of hich the most impo tant thing at p esent is to publicize
and make t anspa ent land-use plans, the allocation of land and the use of land, a
valuable esou ce of the count y hich is being asted, embezzled and app op iated
the most The second action is to make t anspa ent the mobilization and the use of
the state budget in o de to ed ess the ineffective use of budget Public investment
p o ects (using funds f om state o igin) must be publicized, made t anspa ent and
supe vised st ictly to avoid co uption, aste, ineffectiveness and to p event f om
being a facto causing inflation

It is necessa y to disclose info mation about and make t anspa ent the p ocesses of
planning and execution of mechanisms and policies If being discussed in an open and
democ atic manne , mechanisms and policies illbe supplemented and completed, thus,
ill be close to eality, meet equi ements in the count y’s development, especially ill
ove come the situation of“mechanism t ading”that makes co upt use ofthe mechanism
to seek fo pa tial, local, g oup benefits T anspa ency helps enfo ce la s smoothly,
p event the situation hen the same egulation is unde stood and inte p eted diffe ently
by state agencies The t anspa ent business envi onment f om policies, p ocedu es, etc
helps businesses access info mation, inc ease equality in te m of t ading oppo tunities
fo businesses of diffe ent economic secto s, helps them feel secu e in making business
plans Publicized and t anspa ent administ ative p ocedu es ill cont ibute to ed ess
the co uption of civil se vants and officials of functional autho ities, make favou able
conditions fo the people and fo p oduction and ope ation activities of ente p ises, and
at the same time being a basis fo the people and ente p ises to supe vise activities ofcivil

se vants, ed ess the ha assment exto tion of civil se vants on the people and ente p ises

heneve they come to state agencies

Fo cad es and civil se vants, the p actical action at p esent is to decla e
and disclose info mation about thei assets acco ding to egulations Fi st of all,
info mation about assets of candidates fo membe s of Pa liament must be disclosed

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

Anothe impo tant thing is to disclose info mation about the ec uitment, p omotion,
commendation and discipline on cad es and civil se vants In the cu ent situation,
such actions ill not only cont ibute an effective measu e to p event and fight against
co uption, clean up the c e of cad es and civil se vants, but ill also play a ve y
impo tant ole in building up the t ust of the people in the state appa atus

Acco ding to Assoc P of D Nguyen Dang Dung, “In public administ ation,
info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency means info mation about the la and othe
info mation elated to the implementation p ocess of public assignment and civil
se vants is p ovided completely, timely and accu ately to the people T anspa ency is
associated ith info mation disclosu e, accountability and f eedom of info mation”

Within the f ame o k of public administ ation, the concept of t anspa ency can
be inte p eted to consist of t o impo tant espects such as: access to info mation,
and ight and oppo tunities of supe vision/ c iticism of management ob ects against
management agencies

F om the legal pe spective, although t anspa ency has not been defined di ectly in
any legal documents, its di ect manifestation is the ight to access to info mation hich
is ackno ledged in the 20 3 Constitution as one of the basic ights of citizens: Citizens

have the ight to f eedom of speech and f eedom of the p ess, and have the ight to
assembly, association, and demonst ate Hie exe cise of those ights shall be p esc ibed
by la (A ticle 25) In the 20 8 Anti-co uption La , at p ovisions Clause 4 A ticle 3
that “Information disclosure and transparency in organization and operation ofagencies,
authorities and units means disclosing of information and provision of explanation for
the organization structure, performance of duties, entitlements and responsibilities of an
organization during their operation”can be inte p eted that t anspa ency is associated
ith info mation disclosu e in ope ations of agencies, autho ities and units the same
as p ovisions on info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in public p ocu ement
and capital const uction; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in finance and
state budget; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in land use and management;
info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in education, etc

The concept of t anspa ency is ide than info mation disclosu e T anspa ency
includes oppo tunities and equality in access to info mation, consistent eliability of

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

info mation, p edictability and the openness of agencies hich p ovide info mation
Acco dingly, being unde stood in hateve ay, afte all the key matte oft anspa ency
is al ays associated ith the ight to access info mation Ho eve , the extent of access
to info mation depends on limits ofmanagement entities, and in a ide scale, depends
on the natu e of each State Info mation can be app oached in the follo ing aspects:
i) the administ ato p ovides info mation at the equest of the pe son ho needs the
info mation This is a passive ay of info mation p ovision hich depends on the
equest of the pe son ho needs info mation At this level, the pe son ho needs
info mation still depends much on public administ ation officials in app oaching
equi ed info mation; it) taking initiative in p oviding info mation At this level,
state administ ation entities take the initiative in esea ching peoples demand fo
info mation, f om that to design info mation database best fulfilling such demand

With this fo m, a such database ill also be published actively on va ious media so
that the people a e able to easily sea ch the info mation they need Info mation ill be
published unde diffe ent fo ms, on va ious mass media such as ebsites, ne spape s,
o kshops o publications so that management ob ects a e able to access actively At
this level, the dependence of people ho need info mation on public management
officials fo app oaching info mation is educed; ) management ob ects ill not
only have access to info mation but also take the initiative in pa ticipating in the
const uction and fo mation of info mation (in management science, it is called policy
planning) and supe vising the implementation of such info mation This pa ticipation
is conside ed a pa t oft anspa ency because it helps management ob ects exp ess thei
demand and unde stand mo e dea ly the natu e of info mation

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

and timeliness ithout the ight to pa ticipate in activities and to supe vise the
implementation On the cont a y, if the access to info mation is not good, the ight
and oppo tunities to pa ticipate in and supe vise activities ill not be p omoted In the
cu ent tendency of state administ ation, it is necessa y to unde stand both of these
aspects to fully emb ace the connotation of t anspa ency in gene al and the p ocess of
making t anspa ent ope ations of local autho ities

2. C rrent sit ationofinformation disclos reandtransparencyin operations
oflocal a thorities in Vietnam

Within the scope of this a ticle, the autho is assessing the cu ent situation
of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ations of local autho ities in
Vietnam in the follo ing aspects:

2.1.T e act ofpromul at o ofle al docume ts

Info mation about all stages of the development and p omulgation p ocess
of legal documents must be disclosed, including: info mation disclosu e and
t anspa ency du ing the stage of legal document p epa ation; info mation disclosu e
and t anspa ency du ing the stage of legal document composition; info mation
disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of ve ification of d aft legal documents;
info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of evie and adoption of
d aft legal documents; info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency du ing the stage of
int oduction of legal documents

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official gazettes is a mandato y stage in the p ocess ofdeveloping and p omulgating legal
documents, hich is a necessa y condition fo enfo cement effect of legal documents,
etc The above p ovisions not only c eate conditions fo the people to be a a e of
legal documents but also is one of the elements to fulfil commitments on ensu ing
disclosu e and t anspa ency of la s in the t eaties hich Vietnam is pa ticipating
in Nonetheless, the evaluation of impacts and situation of social elations gove ned
by legal documents as ell as the consultation ith conce ning minist ies, agencies,
o ganizations and the people about d aft legal documents a e still much est icted

Contents of legal documents can be unde stood that hen such contents of
documents a e itten do n, all people ho a e a a e of them a e able to g asp, and
that they comply ith the la , a e not cont a y to the Constitution and legal documents
at highe levels P ovisions of legal documents must be clea and connected, easy to
unde stand and logical, at the same time such documents must be made public fo
eve yone to kno and be a a e of thei ights and obligations to obey st ictly and
comply ith p ovisions ofthe documents Contents ofcu ent legal documents a e easy
fo the public to unde stand because a ticles of the la have been explained in details
and conc etized, educing the p omulgation of f ame o k la s, the eby cont ibuting
to ensu e equi ements fo obviousness and easiness fo the unde standing of the ia
o p ovisions on the use of language in legal documents p esc ibed in the 20 5 La on
P omulgation of legal documents

Legal documents can be accessed easily by the people This is sho n in the fact
that the Info mation Cente unde the Office ofthe National Assembly has int oduced
a ebsite of Vietnam’s ỉa database (vietla gov vn) having 20,000 legal documents
hich a e a anged scientifically so that the people can easily find exact documents
they need, and it is totally f ee At localities, ỉegal documents a e posted on ebsites of
local autho ities

Despite that, agencies hich p omulgating iegal documents must make mo e
effo ts to p ovide and disseminate info mation about thei ope ations to make
info mation easy to unde stand and apply Actually, many legal documents a e causing
difficulties to the people because they cannot unde stand, and even cad es and civil
se vants sometimes unde stand in diffe ent ays about the same document, o legal
documents a e conflict o ove lapped ith each othe hen dealing the same matte
The efo e, in o de to be easy to access, legal documents must be made clea , accu ate
and easy to unde stand

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

Besides, in fact, legal documents issued by People’s Committees a e often
inapp op iate, in te m of contents, ith the Constitution, the la o legal documents
of state agencies at highe levels It can be seen by examining legal documents, and it
found a la ge numbe of illegal documents Acco ding to PAR INDEX 20 8, the e a e
5 out of 63 p ovinces sco ed the component index of “Building up and o ganization
of implementation of legal documents” ove 80%, of hich 5 p ovinces got sco es
highe than 0% The esults a e obtained f om evaluating such c ite ia as follo ing
up the execution of la s, handling documents to detect violations th ough checking
and handling legal documents afte evie ing Acco ding to the statistics, 5 out of
63 p ovinces have fully implemented 3 activities of execution of la s as p esc ibed
at Dec ee No 5 /20 2/ND-CP of the Gove nment At the same time, such p ovinces

have handled timely o p oposed to handle 00% of est icted and inadequate matte s
found hile o ganizing the supe vision ofthe execution ofla sin thei a ea Data about
checking and evie ing legal documents also positive hen most of the p ovinces
completed handling matte s detected du ing thei evie ing, timely announced the
list of documents becoming invalid, issued amendments o additions to egulations
o changes to egulations found illegal du ing checking documents in the yea 20 8,
cont ibuting to imp oving the consistency, comp ehensiveness, publicity and legality
of the p ovince Besides, some p ovinces have not successfully pe fo med the o k of
follo ing up the enfo cement of la s Some p ovinces have slo lyhandled documents
becoming invalid o documents found to be illegal hen evie ing documents

*Issua ce ofpart cular docume ts

Rega ding the issuance of pa ticula documents by Peoples Committees,
such documents a e issued in la ge numbe in o de to meet the demand fo state
management at localities as ell as inte nal management The t anspa ency in
the issuance of pa ticula documents by local People’s Committees has cu ently
manifested in the uploading fo ms of documents and p omulgated documents on
thei ebsites The p ocess of d afting and issuing pa ticula documents complies
ith p ovisions on autho ization and p ocedu es, etc of issuance The p ocess of
issuing legal documents is defined clea ly in the 20 5 La on P omulgation of legal
documents, hile the p ocess and p ocedu es of issuance of pa ticula documents

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance...

contain codes have not been p esc ibed and a e not clea Fo example, befo e the
autho ity issue ed books / pink books (land use ight ce tificate) to households, in
some localities the e must be discussions and itnesses of elated beneficia ies, even
a file must be built up by the pe son in cha ge Apa t f om that, in many localities,
the officials on duty do not ca y out the above mentioned p ocess, the e is no

discussion among elated pa ties Especially, some pa ticula documents have illegal
contents, causing unpleasantness of the public, o lack info mation, t anspa ency
and discussions ith people befo e issuance, esulting in long-lasting claims and
legal p oceedings If such documents a e not canceled timely, the t ust of people
in local autho ities ill be educed Most of administ ative decisions hich cause
claims and legal p oceedings a e elated to land use

2 2 upervision by eople's Council

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ight to claim, accuse, ecommend, o th ough agencies o social o ganizations, citizens
and the p ess pa ticipate in coope ating ith state agencies and othe o ganizations and
individuals to pe fo m the ight to supe vise That citizens implement thei ights by
themselves such as filing claims, petitions and accusations, etc they help intensify the
activities of supe vision, inspection and examination of sub ects having competence
fo activities of autho ities, the eby have ed essed sho tcomings and eaknesses of
the management appa atus and equi ed efo m in public administ ation

The t anspa ency in supe vision activity of the People’s Council is exp essed
th ough:

First, the o k of communication ith vote s of ep esentatives of the People’s
Council is ca ied out in compliance ith egulations ofthe la The ep esentatives ill
info m vote s about the contents and agenda of the next sessions and epo t solutions
to comments and ecommendations of vote s in p evious sessions and summa ize
comments and feedbacks of vote s to submit in the next sessions At meetings ith
vote s, the People's Council sho tens times fo ep esentative’s epo ts and spends
mo e time fo vote s to speak out thei ishes At meetings ith vote s, g oups of
ep esentatives of the People’s Council ill equest leade s of the People's Committees
of dist icts, a ds, communes, p o ect management boa ds, elating agencies invited
to the meetings to explain di ectly to vote s about matte s elated to thei competence;

at the same time, equest elating entities to evie the implementation and ans e s of
the People's Committees to questions of vote s in p evious meetings, questions not yet
ans e ed o gene ally ans e ed

Seco d, quality o f questioning and ans e ing, th ough hich u gent matte s

elated to socio-economics, comments, ecommendations of vote s ill be discussed
at legislative sessions The standing committee of the People’s Council does tho ough
p epa ation fo sessions of questioning and ans e ing Questions of ep esentatives
a e sent to the Chai pe son ofthe session Based on contents eceived, conce ning state
autho ities ill p epa e ans e s in iting When eceiving questions, the Standing
committee of the People’s Council ill assign divisions in cha ge to gathe and send
to ep esentatives of the People’s Council fo thei evie in advance In each session
of the People’s Council, the e often has many questions to autho ities about p essing
issues in socio-economic fields, implementation of policies, etc , so vote s a e ve y
conce ned fo Di ect questioning bet een ep esentatives and specialized agencies
has c eated a democ atic, f ank and open atmosphe e he e ep esentatives could ask

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to the last questions that have not been satisfacto ily explained When conducting the
questioning session, afte each ans e , the chai pe son ill summa ize main ideas
so that ep esentatives a e able to unde stand tho oughly and ask mo e questions If
found any matte s not yet ans e ed clea ly, o if ep esentatives do not satisfy ith
ans e s of functional autho ities, the Chai pe son ill equest fo fu the cla ification
o give ans e s in iting to ep esentatives Beside comments of ep esentatives
and g oups of ep esentatives, the standing committee of the People’s Council ill
summa ize comments of the Fathe land F ont and its affiliates, comments of vote s,
app aisals of divisions unde the Peoples Council to p epa e questions to submit to
the p ovincial People's Committee and functional autho ities to cla ify and ans e
At the same time, befo e any session, the Standing Committee of the People’s Council

ill send lette s to functional autho ities equesting to epo t on thei execution of
commitments, matte s ackno ledged and acqui ed in the p evious session Assistants
of the Standing Committee ill summa ize details of ans e s f om autho ities to
p ovide ep esentatives fo study befo e the questioning session Quality of questioning
activity has been imp oved g adually by sessions, a lot of p essing matte s have been
asked by ep esentatives and ans e ed by conce ning autho ities Many questioning
sessions at meeting-hall have been live b oadcast on adio o television and published
on ne spape s, and b oadcast again on p ovincial television at p ope time so that all
vote s of the p ovince a e able to follo up

hird, meeting citizens, eceiving and conside ing thei claims and accusations
a e also egula activities of the People’s Council hich a e ca ied out in acco dance
ith t anspa ent p ocedu es in a st ict, enthusiastic and esponsible manne and in a
democ atic atmosphe e, that builds up the t ust of citizens in ep esentatives

Fourt , supe viso y delegations have issued plans, clea ly defined pu poses,
equi ements, contents, agenda and specific time of supe vision, and had detailed
guidelines on matte s to be inspected to ensu e the pu poses of inspection At the end
of the inspection, delegations had epo t assessing the actual situation, at the same
time detecting violations, stating ciea ly easons, p oposing solutions and submitted
to the People’s Council session fo evie and decision

Supe viso y activities of the People’s Council ecently have had focus and main
points, coope ation ith divisions unde the People’s Council, ith the Standing
Committee of the People’s Council, ith la p otection autho ities and local
socio-political o ganizations th ough hea ing epo ts of state agencies on all activities at

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in state overnance

localities, th ough questioning agencies and pe sons in cha ge of the supe viso y

delegations Fo this eason, supe viso y activities of the People’s Council have been
d a n mo e and mo e attention of citizens and have gained ce tain achievements
Neve theless, in many localities, the People’s Council can only make decisions on
matte s hich have been decided by highe levels and by the Pa ty Committee
Those decisions a e lack of ob ective, have poo eliability The effectiveness of
supe vision is still limited because the autho ization of the Peoples Council to deal
ith violations is p esc ibed specifically, hile elating legal p ovisions on p ocedu es
of implementation a e sketchy The scope of supe vision by the People’s Council ove
the People’s Committee is imp ope in te m of both quality and level Reasons fo the
above limitation a e: i) ep esentatives o k on pa t-time instead of full-time basis; ii)
the building ofinstitutions on supe vision has not been app op iate and co esponding
ith othe institution in activities of investigation, examination and inspection of
ope ations of local autho ities

2.3. Adm strat ve procedures, ma a eme t of cadres, c v l serva ts a d
publ cf a ce

*Adm strat ve procedures

People’s Committees at levels disclose timely info mation and update
administ ative p ocedu es to the national database; post up all administ ative
p ocedu es; eceive, t eat and give esults offeedbacks, ecommendations ofindividuals
and o ganizations about administ ative egulations; a e egula ly a a e of situation,
esults of solution fo administ ative p ocedu es executed by lo e level units to have
measu es fo eminding, speeding up and co ecting p omptly du ing the p ocess
of handling administ ative p ocedu es Conclusions at confe ences on summa izing
the Gove nments administ ative efo m activities ove the past yea s sho that the
info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency of administ ative p ocedu es by People’s
Committees at diffe ent levels have achieved encou aging esults

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

info mation to investo s, developing ebsites of p ovinces, depa tments, agencies so
that ente p ises can easily access info mation in o de to p ovide mo e info mation
to ente p ises Besides, local autho ities take initiatives in p oviding info mation to
ente p ises, investo s and citizens th ough connecting administ ative p ocedu es,
establishing the model of “one-doo ” o “connected one-doo ”, tho oughly applying
online public se vices at levels ,2,3 and 4, being focal points to p ovide info mation,
disclosing dea info mation, simplifying p ocedu es to help people follo up the
situation of thei documents on ebsites via sho t messages on mobile phones o
emails, ensu ing publicity and t anspa ency of p ocedu es Imp oving gove nment
-ente p ise dialogues and enhancing the ole of business associations, di ect dialogues
bet een local autho ities and ente p ises, gove nment - ente p ise dialogues via
the Inte net to inc ease mo e sub ects, topics, and sho ten the time of dialogues
bet een gove nment and ente p ises Acco ding to PAPI 20 8, public se vice and
administ ative p ocedu es also have conside able changes In pa ticula , the e has
been a g adual imp ovement in all 4 g oups of public se vice and administ ative
p ocedu es measu ed by PAPI, including se vices of nota izing and ce tification
by-autho ities of g ass oots, se vice of g anting const uction pe mits, se vice of g anting
land use ight ce tificates and communal administ ative se vices Th ee c ite ia having
the conside able inc ease in sco es a e the pa ticipation of the people at g ass oots,
info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in making decisions, and accountability
Th ee c ite ia having a slight inc ease in sco es a e cont olling co uption in public
secto , public administ ative p ocedu es and p ovision of public se vices Rega ding
the announcement and disclosu e ofadminist ative p ocedu es and esults ofhandling
documents, the e a e 53 out of 63 p ovinces have announced fully and timely the list
of administ ative p ocedu es at th ee autho ity levels Results of handling documents
as pe administ ative p ocedu es in the yea 20 8 have high sco es, of hich the esuit
of eceiving and timely handling documents at p ovincial agencies eached 5%, at
dist ict level the e a e 6 out of 63 p ovinces eached 5% and ove , the esult of timely

handling documents at commune level eached 5% The e have been positive changes
in making apologies to the people and o ganizations in case of delay in handling
documents Ho eve , the e a e still 2 p ovinces have not yet pe fo med the apology
making as p esc ibed 2

! Vietnam P ovincial Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPĨ) 20 8 (see: http://papi
o gvn/ p-content/upỉoads/20 /03/20 8PAPIREPORT„VIE„FĨNAL pdO

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Ho eve , the p oactive publicity of administ ative p ocedu es, time, cha ges and
fees at o kplaces ofsome public administ ations has still been fo mal and been o ked
fo fo m’s sake Some autho ities disclose info mation but have not implemented in
acco dance ith the info mation disclosed, that led to common delays in dealing ith
o ks of citizens The e a e va ious easons fo this situation, one of hich is the lack
of mechanism fo handling violations in cases he e the sub ects fail to pe fo m o
imp ope ly pe fo m thei obligation of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency as

equi ed by the la

It can be said that ecently administ ative agencies have disclosed info mation
but thei ope ations have not been eally t anspa ent yet, o in othe o ds, they have
been still done by halves That means the implementation has been still fo mal At
public-se vice p oviding agencies he e administ ative p ocedu es have been
publicized to citizens, the e have speake s a ning people to be vigilant about “decoys”;
ho eve , such evil has been still sp eading the e Officials kno but citizens still cannot
avoid it because they only pe fo m thei obligations of publicizing p ocedu es ithout
ca ing hethe citizens unde stand and follo inst uctions o not

The obligation of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in ope ations of state
agencies at the equest of citizens is still limited Situations he e state agencies do
not espond to citizens in iting o efuse to p ovide info mation ithout ustifiable

easons a e still common and has not been t eated Hie main cause of this situation
is that most of the legal egulations on publicity and t anspa ency of ope ations of
state agencies at equests of citizens a e still p inciples, not specific, thus such state
agencies can evade thei obligations ithout being t eated The La on Access to
Info mation and the La on Refe endum has al eady been passed, but the p opagation
and dissemination of these la s to people to aise a a eness and unde standing of the
la s a e still slo , and la enfo cement has not been implemented in time Acco ding
to PAPI20 8, the pe centage ofpeople all ove the count y ho sea ch fo info mation
about the State policies and the la is ext emely lo , only at 4%, of hich only 2%
finds thei needed info mation In addition, the e is still a situation he e people
a e ha assed by cad es and civil se vants, and public funds a e misused fo pe sonal

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance...

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pu poses Cu ent est ictions of pe fo ming obligations of info mation disclosu e
at equests of conce ning individuals, agencies and o ganizations can be summa ized
to come f om both sides as follo s: (i) on the state agency side, the situation he e
state agencies eceive equests but do not espond to citizens o o ganizations ithout
any sound easons is still common; (ii) on citizen side, actually, people’s inte est in
equesting state agencies to p ovide info mation has been limited, both in the numbe
of equests and quality of info mation equi ed In othe o ds, the effectiveness of
the pe fo mance of the ole of supe vising the state activities of people and society
th ough va ious fo ms has not been p omoted effectively fo ensu ing the publicity
and t anspa ency in ope ations of state administ ative agencies

We have not had any mechanism fo ensu ing and cont olling the pe fo mance
of info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the ope ations of agencies Most of the
p ovisions of the la on esponsibilities of state agencies in info mation disclosu e
and t anspa ency at equests of citizens have only stopped at the level ofp inciples not
details One ofthe impo tant easons is the lack oft eatment measu es against agencies,

o ganizations and individuals ho have the intention not to disclose info mation as
equi ed by the la This is a loophole of the la he e state agencies a e not t eated
although evading thei obligations

Mo eove , p ovisions ofthe la on list of state sec ets in gene al and list of sec ets
of minist ies, agencies and localities a e unclea , hile e have not had any agency to
assess the necessity of contents to put into the sec et lists, leading to the common fact
that many agencies have put into the sec et lists such contents unnecessa y fo being
t eated confidential and use that as an excuse fo not disclosing hen equested

Besides, citizens themselves have not unde stood and been a a e of thei ights
and esponsibilities as ellas the p ocess ofp ocedu es fo equesting info mation f om
state agencies The efo e, they no mally equest fo such info mation elated closely to
thei o n benefits and usually hesitate to do so When equesting info mation but not
p ovided, they do not have enough easons to defend thei opinions Acco ding to
SIPAS 20 8 (Satisfacto y Index of Public Administ ation Se vices), the people ish
the state administ ations to p omote administ ation efo m Acco dingly, 60 8 % of
the people ants the state administ ations to continue opening mo e fo ms to access
info mation about public administ ative se vices Ihis is an absolutely p actical

Vietnam P ovincial Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index (PAPI) 20 8 (http://papi o g
vn/ p-content/upIoads/20 /03/20 8PAPIREPORT_VIE_FĨNAL pđf)

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

demand hen looking the component index “Administ ative p ocedu e efo m”, the e
a e a numbe of p ovinces have not disclosed fully and timely info mation and details
of administ ative p ocedu es on thei ebsites and at “one-doo ” section at all levels

As egulations on info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the past time have

been implemented in a fo mal manne and done pe functo ily, the implementation
lacked c eativity and effectiveness Rega ding fo ms of disclosing info mation,
agencies and units mainly pe fo m info mation disclosu e in the fo m of notices at
thei meetings (yea -end, qua te -end, monthly b iefings), some disclose info mation
on the Inte net; Othe p esc ibed fo ms of info mation disclosu e have not been
implemented fully and volunta ily Rega ding contents to disclose, agencies and units
have only focused on disclosed info mation about finance, budget and administ ative
p ocedu es; the disclosu e of othe info mation as equi ed by p ovisions of the La
on Anti-co uption have not been paid adequate attention

*Management o fcadres and civil servants

The management of cad es and civil se vants includes many contents ith
stages of: ec uitment, employment, appointment, supe vision, evaluation, planning,
t aining, t ansfe ing f om one position to anothe position, compensations and
benefits fo cad es and civil se vants, development and implementation of policies,
development and appointment of talents to impo tant position, ell-t eating talents
and att acting talents, etc Among these stages, the e a e stages follo ing sequences,
but the e a e stages conducted in pa allel, inte oven, have mutual inte actions, etc
All these contents must be made t anspa ent in o de to imp ove the quality of the
c e of cad es and civil se vants to encou age them to o k and cont ibute

- Examination for selecting civil servants: In ecent yea s, the examination fo
selection of civil se vants has been efo med and imp oved Ho eve , the e have been
still sho tcomings and limitations in ob ectivity, fai ness, t anspa ency and se iousness
in the exam that d a public attention The e have been still many negative matte s
in the civil se vant ec uitment examination that lose the faith of the public A
common situation is that ec uited people do not fulfil position demands due to the
lack of disclosu e of such details as ob desc iption and c ite ia of ec uitment to find
suitable applicants As a esult, ec uited people do not meet the ob equi ements The

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

ec uitment is still fo mal The exam is the same fo diffe ent positions, hich mainly
includes info mation technology, fo eign language and kno ledge about the La on
cad es and civil se vants, The p epa ation of the exam and the evaluation also contain
lots of negative matte s Acco ding to PAPI 20 8, co uption is still constant in state
employment due to “ elations” and “b ibe y” in o de to be employed as civil se vants
o officials f om local levels In 20 8, p ovinces e e found to violate egulations
on civil se vant employment, 2 p ovinces e e found to violate egulations on public
employees Statistics sho that most of the violations a e announcing the vacancy
less than the equi ed time, the ec uitment boa d has not ensu ed the numbe and
standa d ofmembe s as equi ed; in many cases, the employment is conducted ithout
examination o civil se vants of commune-level t ansfe ed to dist ict level do not
fulfil conditions, standa ds and employment pe iod as equi ed2

- Evaluation of civil servants changed f om self-c iticism mode and election
to evaluation based on follo ing contents: abiding by the Pa ty’s guidelines and
policies and the la s of the State; political and ethical qualities, lifestyles, manne s
and o king styles, executive leade ship, o ganization of task pe fo mance and
sense of esponsibility in o king; focusing on esults of pe fo ming assigned tasks;
the method of assessment combining self-assessment of civil se vants, comments
of colleagues, and opinions of leade s to classify civil se vants annually acco ding
to 4 levels of excellent accomplishment of the tasks, successful completion of tasks,
completion of task but still have limitation in capacity and incompletion of tasks
Ho eve , the cu ent assessment is still inte nal and closed, lacking an independent
assessment, lacking an o ganization o full-time pe sonnel fo assessment, hile e
a e building an open public se vice Mo eove , esults of assessing the classification of
each civil se vant in each agency and unit have a de ivative elation to esponsibilities
of the head, eflecting the deg ee of task completion and achievement of the

leade ship as ell as of the o ganization in gene al; the efo e, the evaluation is still in
a ay he e “ a bad comp omise is bette than a good la suit” because of the lack of
t anspa ency fo an accu ate assessment Most of the civil se vants give themselves
good ma ks The c ite ia of evaluation a e also qualitative and emotional, leading to

Vietnam P ovincial Gove nanceandPublicAdminist ationPe fo manceIndex (PAPĨ) 20 8 Seemo e:http://

papi o g vn/ p-content/uploads/20 /03/20 8PAPIREPORT_VIE_FINAL pdf)

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inequality and unfai ness fo each civil se vant, and the evaluation p ocess is not yet
t anspa ent

- ransferring cadres and civil servants: The policy of t ansfe ing cad es f om
the Cent al to g ass oots level and vice ve sa is the ight policy, making favou able
conditions fo cad es to gain mo e kno ledge to meet inc easing equi ements of
o k The t anspa ency in info mation about t ansfe ing, mobilizing and seconding
cad es and civil se vants is necessa y so that the pe sonnel ho ill be t ansfe ed can
eceive info mation and competent agencies and the people can supe vise the capacity
of such pe sonnel The t ansfe ing plan must be publicized and made t anspa ent,
hile the ideological education must be good so that t ansfe ed cad es find it is an
impo tant esponsibility, task and challenge Policies on compensations and benefits
fo t ansfe ed cad es must be clea , both in and afte the t ansfe The output of the
t ansfe must be t ue If so, the e must be t ue supe vision by the sending agency and
by eceiving agency as ell as by the esponsible public The t ansfe of cad es in many
places still contain inadequacies, ambiguities and opaqueness, fo instance, the evie
and evaluation of cad es to have a basis fo the planning is still inadequate, the finding
of cad es to put in the planning is slo , especially the plan of t ansfe ing cad es The
cad e planning is still indulgent and closed

Cu ently, ith high political dete mination to make the o k of cad es and civil

se vants public and t anspa ent, the Politbu o issued Regulation No 205-QD/TW dated
Septembe 23 d, 20 on cont olling po e in the o k of cad e o ganization and
anti-buying position and po e This document ill be a tool and mechanism fo cont olling
the management of cad es and civil se vants f om the Cent al to local levels to make it
t anspa ent, accu ate, public and compliant ith p ocesses and p ovisions of the la

* ublicfinance

Pe fo ming info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in the public finance
in ope ations of local autho ities, outputs a e mainly of the follo ing aspects: First>
the inc ease in the decent alization of state budget management at the g ass oots
level has made a significant change in the ay of ope ation of the state appa atus
The mo e decent alization to local gove nments in te m of evenue and the task of
spending budget has been initially implemented in the p inciple that public se vices
a e decent alized to hich levels a e able to meet the demand of people the fastest
and most convenient; econd, enovating the financial mechanism fo administ ative
agencies and public non-business units The g ant of autonomy and financial

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esponsibility to those agencies using state budget and public non-business units
has c eated a ce tain flexibility fo agencies and units in using funds to conduct
public se vice delive y activities to meet the needs of society; hird) the expansion of
disclosing info mation about budget and budget audit has been initially put into o de
and p omoted the effectiveness, the eby st engthening the inte nal inspection o k
bet een supe io s and subo dinates inspection, and st ongly p omoting supe viso y
ole of unions in the budget evenues and expenditu es, p eventing losses Acco ding
to PAPI20 8, citizens mo e satisfied ith the level of publicity and t anspa ency ofthe
autho ities in p epa ing the pove ty list and disclosu e of info mation about evenues
and expenditu es at the commune-level At this indicato , Thai Nguyen is the p ovince
getting the highest sco e Da Nang got the highest sco e fo “access to info mation”
Lang Son got the highest sco e fo “commune budgets and expenditu es”, Thai Binh

got the highest sco e fo “Land use plan and p ice f ames”

Ho eve , in the actual situation, it is difficult fo the People’s Council to p omote
the ole of ep esentative fo people in app oving and supe vising the state budget

Meetings ith vote s a e not enough fo the People's Council to g asp all needs,
conce ns and issues need to give p io ity fo dealing ith at the locality, the eby to
make app op iate decisions elated to the local budget allocation at thei locality It
is difficult fo ep esentatives of the People’s Council at all levels to give independent
opinions due to thei pa t-time o king basis, especially hen they go to supe vise
public investment p o ects

Rep esentatives of the People's Council do not have enough p ofessional
kno ledge about finance and budget to ead, unde stand, and then supe vise stages
of the budget p ocess effectively hen it is submitted to them Besides, all stages of the
budgetp ocess, f om p epa ing, executing cost estimates, final payment settlement, state
budget audit, and checking and inspecting a e not yet clea The e a e many p oblems
ith public investment o ks in p ovinces People do not kno any info mation about
public investment p o ects in thei localities, do not kno ho to ask fo cla ification
about budget info mation

In consultations ith localautho ities and people in the p ovinces > hen evie ing
activities of the People’s Committees, the Peoples Councils and ep esentatives of the

Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

People’s Council in info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency of the budget p ocess,
in gene al, although info mation about the budget finance has been disclosed but it

has not been t anspa ent enough and people have not pa ticipated substantially and
effectively At p esent, the socio-economic development plan and cost estimates/final
payment settlement of dist ict, p ovincial and national budgets a e made available
on gove nment agencies’ ebsites The socio-economic development plan and cost
estimates/final payment settlement of commune budget a e made public at the
commune Peoples Committee and at meetings ith citizens and vote s Ho eve ,
such info mation has not yet ensu ed complete t anspa ency hile it is: too technical,
often confusing, complicated, has ve y fe explanations, lacks analysis on the basis of
estimation and lacks evaluation of budget implementation esults (ho a e the esults
ith such use of budget, fo example: numbe of schools built, numbe of child en
going to class, etc The e is no compa ison bet een budget implementation and
social outputs) Fo these easons, ep esentatives themselves and people a e unable
to unde stand Thus it is eally difficult fo them to pa ticipate in and supe vise the
effectiveness of the use of the allocated budget Mo eove , the e is still the limitation of
channels fo t ansmitting info mation (fo example: being info med at meetings ith
vote s, meetings of village s and on public loudspeake s, etc) and is not suitable ith
actual conditions of people Data in the epo t is ve y technical so people find it is ha d
to follo and emembe the details

The method of budgeting also hinde s the tendency of enovating
socio-economic development planning At p esent, many p ovinces have been implementing
enovation of socio-economic development planning, having people’s pa ticipation,
collecting opinions and based on the needs of people f om the village level (f om lo e
level up a ds) Ho eve , the planning and budget allocation p ocess a e still f om the
highe level do n a ds, usually p epa ed at the dist ict level, based on the ope ational
o ientation of secto s and gove nment policies, and not necessa ily based on needs and
choices of people, esulting in mismatch In many cases he e p ovinces implement
enovation of socio-economic development planning, people a e no longe inte ested
in pa ticipating, because if they do, thei needs and expectations ill still not be eally
conside ed hen allocating the budget

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hich still contain many p oblems, complicated p ocedu es and p ocesses, vague
decent alization and autho ization hich lead to the the att ibution of esponsibility,
accountability and t anspa ency still not ell implemented, still avoided and pushed

3 Recomme dat o s for e sur g t e d sclosure a d tra spare cy

format o t e operat o s of local aut or t es V et am at prese t

First, enovate and st engthen the leade ship mode of the Pa ty and Pa ty
committees at local gove nments, the Pa ty integ ates into the political system, the state
appa atus and the society to implement and cont ol activities of info mation disclosu e
and t anspa ency oflevels of autho ities O acco ding to a ou nalist said that: “It is the
p ocess of making the leade ship into la and o ganizing the execution of the Pa ty's
political po e ove the State, socio-political o ganizations and the enti e society”

econd, build up and accomplish the la on info mation disclosu e and
t anspa ency in activities of local autho ities, such as implementing a mechanism to
ensu e citizens’ ight to access info mation about activities of agencies, o ganizations
and units; finalize and o ganize st ictly the implementation of egulations on
spokespe son of state agencies; o ganize the enfo cement of the la on info mation
access so that people a e a a e ofthei ights and state agencies’ esponsibilities to a ds
them; to have sanctions against violato s of citizens’ ight to info mation Accomplish
the democ atic la s at g ass oots, to p omote the O dinance on the implementation of
democ acy in communes, a ds and to n into La in o de to affi m the significance
of the democ atic o k at g ass oots, to study democ acy in state administ ative
agencies and in ente p ises fo supplementing to the La on cad es and civil se vants
and the La on Ente p ises Implement contents about democ acy at g ass oots, f om
stipulating la s to ensu ing the o ganization of execution of the la on democ acy at
g ass oots “fo people to kno , to discuss, to implement and to supe vise” in eality, in

essential, public and t anspa ent manne

hird, enovate the o ganization and ope ation of the Gove nment and local
autho ities, simplify the administ ative appa atus f om cent al to local levels, cla ify
autho ity, functions and tasks of diffe ent agencies to avoid ove lapping, decent alize
po e s among administ ative levels to cla ify competence and esponsibilities of

Opennessy ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance...

levels, including cla ifying esponsibilities of the heads of each level hen pe fo ming
the decent alization to have a bas s fo info mation disclosu e and t anspa ency in
activities of local autho ities

Fourth>cultivate and imp ove capacity and vi tue of the heads of state agencies
Comply ith p inciples du ing the pe fo mance of official duties including complying

ith the Constitution and the la , disclose info mation in acco dance ith competence
and ith inspection and supe vision; ensu e the quality ofbeing consistent, systematic,
continuous, smooth and efficient The Resolution of the 4th session of the 2th Pa
ty-Cent al Committee also cla ified esponsibilities of heads, cad es and pa ty membe s
have to “commit to p actice and p ese ve vi tues, have non-deg aded lifestyle ithout
“self-change” and “self-t ansfo mation”; Pa ty committees and o ganizations to inspect
and supe vise the implementation of commitments by cad es and pa ty membe s at
thei localities and agencies”5

Fifth, imp ove the mechanism fo cont olling po e to p event abuse of po e
hen pe fo ming official duties in o de to aise esponsibility in info mation
disclosu e, t anspa ency and accountability of local gove nments, establish a

comp ehensive mechanism fo cont olling inte nal and exte nal po e s Fo inte nal
po e , it is necessa y to ensu e the cont olling effect of the g oup of leade s of the
same level via mechanism of questioning and voting against the head; the supe io
is entitled to suspend the status of the head of the subo dinate hen finding seve e
violations in cad e o ganization o k Agencies and o ganizations of highe levels
a e to have a mechanism fo egula supe vising and checking Fo exte nal po e ,
it is necessa y to establish a mechanism fo the people and the p ess to conveniently,
effectively and timely supe vise civil se vants pe fo ming thei duties Especially, it
is necessa y to st engthen the cont ol by the society and the people ove ope ations
of state administ ative agencies, heads of state administ ative agencies, pe fo mance
of accountability and info mation disclosu e hen implementing official duties of
heads, cad es, civil se vants and officials At the same time, to accomplish egulations
of the la and to o ganize the enfo cement of the la on democ acy at g ass oots in
an effective manne in o de to enhance the supe viso y ole of the people to a d
local autho ities, p actice democ acy at agencies and units to c eate an efficient
c iticism mechanism fo the implementation of official duties

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Openness, ransparency and Accountability in tate overnance

ixth, make t anspa ent the p ocess of d afting, submission and p omulgation
of policies and la s; the p ocess of d afting, submission and issuance of decisions
and administ ative documents of local autho ities is associated ith the efo m of
administ ative p ocedu es

eventh, enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of supe viso y activities of
the People’s Council ove Resolutions of the People's Council th ough activities of
questioning, supe vising epo ts, and supe vising matte s and ope ations, etc

Eighth, p omote the t anspa ency of administ ative p ocedu es fo the people
and ente p ises, taking PCI (P ovincial Competitiveness Index), PAPI (P ovincial

Gove nance and Public Administ ation Pe fo mance Index), SIPAS (Satisfacto y Index
of Public Administ ation Se vices) as measu es fo evaluating the level of info mation
disclosu e and t anspa ency of local autho ities

Co clus o

Publicity and t anspa ency in local autho ity activities a e cla ified f om
the pe spective of theo etical, p actical and legal; assess the status of publicity and
t anspa ency of activities of local gove nments th ough the p omulgation of legal
documents of People’s Councils and People's Committees, supe viso y activities of
People's Councils, administ ative p ocedu es, managing officials, public se vants
and public finance; at the same time, p opose solutions to ensu e publicity and
t anspa ency of activities of local gove nments The basis fo assessing the situation is
based on epo ts, such as: PAPI> PAR INDEX, SIPAS It has affi med the t anspa ency
and t anspa ency of the activities of the local gove nment as necessa y activities,
exe cising democ acy and complying ith the ule of la in the const uction p ocess,
build integ ity, tectonic gove nment, the ule of la

REFERENCES
Document of the 2th Pa ty Cent al Committee

2 T an hì Dieu Oanh, T anspa ency ofactivities oflocal autho ities* National Political
Publishing House, Hanoi, 20 6

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4 Institute fo Legislative Studies, Delimitation of competence bet een cent al and
local gove nments, theo y and eality, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi

5 Nguyen Dang Dung, Enhancing the t anspa ency of administ ative decisions
Scientific Jou nals, Hanoi National Unive sity, Ju isp udence 28 (20 2), pp 204-2

6 Repo t on Pubiic Administ ation Refo m Index 20 8 (PAR INDEX epo t), 20 8
7 Repo t on P ovincial gove nance and public administ ation Pe fo mance Index
(PAPI epo t), 20 8

8 Nhi Le, Renovating the mo phological st uctu e of the mechanism of ope ation and
cont ol of po e in the Vietnamese political system, Jou nal of Elect onic Communism,
Janua y 2 , 20 See mo e: http://tapchicongsan o g vn/nghien"cu/-/20
8/54003/doi-moi-hinh-thai-cau-t uc%2C-co-che-van-hanh-va-kiem-soat-quyen-luc-t
ong-he-thong-chinh-t i-vieong-he-thong-chinh-t-nam aspx

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OPENNESS

AND TRANSPAREN Y OF STATE B DGET

N VETNAM TODAY

Dr. o uo 1-LLA f. uye Qua T uo 2

I troduct o

Like othe count ies, Vietnam needs gove nance that is t anspa ent and that
enables pa ticipation by citizens To achieve those goals, the state needs to st engthen
its institutions and change la s to ensu e fiscal t anspa ency hilst o king out
mechanisms that enable citizens to kno about and pa ticipate in budgeting p ocesses
In Vietnam, su veys on open Budget Index (OBI) (2008)> P ovincial Open Budget
Index (POBĨ) (20 7) and the Minist y open Budget Index (MOBI) (20 8) have sho n
that assessment tools a e needed to p omote budget t anspa ency as a ay to c eate
competition fo funding and to mo e effectively manage public esou ces Any agency
using esou ces f om the state budget must ensu e t anspa ency and accountability
in expenditu es In addition, a mechanism that allo s citizens to kno about and
pa ticipate in the budgeting p ocess is essential to ensu e the best use of gove nment
funds

This pape int oduces some concepts and p inciples of budget t anspa ency
in elation to gove nance The pape then summa ises the esults of applying tools
designed to p omote and measu e budget t anspa ency in Vietnam, including OBI,
POBI and MOBI Related changes in institutions, la s and the oles of functional
agencies in ensu ing budget t anspa ency a e documented It sho s the changes
to a ds good gove nance goals in Vietnam

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Ope ess, Tra spare cy a d Accou tab l ty State Gover a ce

Budget tra spare cy a d gover a ce

ransparency is a fundamental cha acte istic of good gove nance It can be
defined as a ay of making and implementing decisions in compliance ith la s and
egulations It also means that info mation about the p ocesses of p omulgating and
implementing decisions must be made public, pa ticula ly to the beneficia ies of (o
affected people f om) decisions T anspa ency also equi es that info mation be fully
disclosed and be delive ed in easy-to-unde stand fo mats, including in the media so
that people can di ectly access it

T anspa ency has a close elationship ith the ule of la and accountability
State- un agencies a e accountable to those ho a e affected by thei decisions o
actions Accountability cannot be ensu ed ithout espect fo and implementation of
the ule of la and t anspa ency

The focal point ofthe elationship bet een citizens and state is seen in decisions on
ho public esou ces a e mobilised and spent The budget is he e the most impo tant
questions about the ole of the state a e implicitly aised and ans e ed Inc easing o
dec easingbudget spenđingmaydi ectlyo indi ectìyaffectthelivesofpeople,pa ticula ly
disadvantaged g oups such as omen, the poo , child en and ethnic mino ities

tate budgets eflect the state's p io ities in its policies and p og ams The state
budget is the most po e ful economic tool fo the state to meet the needs of the
people, pa ticula ly the poo and the disadvantaged T anspa ency in the budget cycle
ill p ovide oppo tunities fo people to pa ticipate in the policy-making p ocess and
esou ce allocation

Budget transparency is defined as the full disclosu e of all elevant fiscal
info mation in a timely and systematic manne 2 If the state budget is not made public
and t anspa ent, budget info mation is difficult to access, available data may not be
eliable and cannot be used to monito and assess the ta geting and effectiveness of
expenditu es When people have access to info mation on the state budget and a e
p ovided ith skills and the oppo tunity to pa ticipate in the budgeting p ocess by the
state, they ill heip to imp ove the quality ofpublic se vices and gove nance efficiency
Budget t anspa ency is a tool that empo e s people to influence policies, p og ams
and esou ce allocation Budget t anspa ency equi es the state to be p oactive in its

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