Li Hongzhong, the Provincial Party Secretary of Hubei Province made important instructions on October 25th, 2014 that the powerful and correct activity of “Responsibilities Inspection to Promote Officials of Administrative Act ” carried out by Yichang Municipal Party Committee has been the effective measure to foster the officials of integrity and achievements. On November 11th, 2014, Wang Guosheng, the governor of Hubei Province, made instructions in the same document: The measures taken by Yichang should be promoted across the whole province because it embodies the correct social orientation What is “Responsibilities Inspection to Promote Officials of Achievements”？Why does it have a far-reaching influence? To answer these questions, we have done an exclusive interview.
Motion: To rectify and clean up specifically those uncorrupted but undutiful and indolent officials
Yichang, as the sub-center city in Hubei Province, is accelerating the construction of a modern megacity. Faced with complicated macro-environment，enormous pressure of economic downturn, and a series of new conditions, new challenges, and new difficulties, Yichang is at a critical period of overcoming difficulties, making breakthroughs and transformation, during which during which human resources, especially leading officials in power are playing a significant role.
However, under the great pressure of anti-corruption, some officials complain their no means of livelihood and lose their vigor in work, and others who exercise undue caution in the daily work worry that the more work they do, the more mistakes they will make therefore, they seek for no achievements in inactivity but for avoiding mistakes, corruption and embezzlement. Facing these phenomena, Huan Chunping, the Party Secretary of Yichang Municipal Government and member of Standing Committee of Hubei Province Committee demands that we must get adapted to the new situation of “strictly administering the Party and officials” and foster responsible and capable leading carders so as to inject continual and strong impetus into Yichang’s scientific and leap forward development.
From July 2014， organizational measures like “Responsibilities Inspection to Promote Officials of Administrative Act’’ has been intensively taken among the county-level leading groups and officials in Yichang to strengthen their sense of responsibility embodied by the courage and willingness to do things for the people, to improve their working style and do more things for the people, to refresh their mental state by displaying their competence of fulfilling those targeted tasks, and to guide them to be that of integrity and achievements.
Focus: to administer the few but crucial ones well and highlight diligence and achievement
“Customs are usually formed in the officialdom but will influence the folk”. Therefore in the special inspection of officials, Yichang will focus on a few key officials like leading groups and the officials with their diligence and achievement, emphasize their mental state, working style and work performance, and take a “physical examination” for 723 members of 109 county-level leading groups.
The inspection highlights its specificity instead of all-roundness. In “diligence” aspect, it will stress whether cadres belong to the category of “four types of officials” (muddle-headed, fatuous, idle, and mediocre officials), and whether they are “responsible in four ways” (courageous, diligent, happy and willing to take responsibilities)
In “achievement” aspect, it will concentrate on “actual accomplishment” serving the overall situation and core tasks rather than “small-scale circulation” of departmental and inPidual work. For the leading groups, it will lay stress on the leading indicators of economic and social development, key construction projects, and significant reform items, important tasks assigned by Yichang Municipal Government, and the progress and completion of major business in the units. For officials, it will focus on their fulfillment in line of duty, reform and innovation in the daily work.
As for the criterion, it will uphold the all-around outline “choice made by the market, decision made for the eco-environment, target settled for people’s well-being” which integrates social progress and well-being improvement with ecological benefits。 It will focus on full-year target, highlight the performance appraisal, and take a comprehensive verification of 54 indicators of economic and social development listed into provincial-level inspection and implement supervision over the 81 municipal-level key construction projects on the spot one by one.
Inspection and verification: Implement pros and cons reviews and multiple-dimension inspection.
Instead of blindly following the routine cadre investigation, the special inspection will dynamically integrate inspection with work supervision; implement synchronic operation and a comprehensive assessment of inPidual self-inspection, inspection groups’ inspection, and third party investigation to examine the officials’ “diligence” and “achievement”. The special inspection involves 10 steps, including public notification of self-inspection, report and appraisal, checking, discussion, consultation, relevant investigation and analysis and assessment to emphasize systemic, simple, and convenient operation, and uphold multiple-dimension inspection of officials. All of these present a new appearance.
Implementation of performance publicity system. According to this system, each and every leading group and cadre, based on the unit function and position responsibility, and annual commissioned economic and social development objectives and major missions, should make self-inspection on the work progress and performance and fill Personal Work Performance of Leading Group Member. Then the lists should be put up publically after being audited by leaderships of unit, municipal party committee and municipal government.
Comparative analysis of objectives and results. Based on the annual objection of responsible unit and the requirement of “complete half the target in the middle of the year, surpass the average level of Hubei Province and the development of cities in same level”, the overall performance and unit achievements were comparatively evaluated in detail, through the benchmarking, accounts and reports, thus discovering the gaps and relevant reasons. At the same time, corresponding comments and suggestions were proposed to inspected units.
Practicing reverse evaluation. With vivid colloquial language as the indicators of 20 kinds of “indolence” such as “the top leader just watch the stall, keep his position in fear of troubles”, “the deputy leaders act as transmitter or hand-off boss who just deliver things and give instruction, but do nothing at all”, “Reverse Performance List — Evaluation for Performance-promotion and Responsibility-check” has been applied in the mass evaluation of cadres. One testee admits that this kind of reverse evaluation is down-to-earth and conductive for the appraisers to spot problems. But to cadres, they are usually under great pressure for they can easily find themselves in the listed posts.
Insistence of stereoscopic inspection. On inspections, multi-aspects should be taken into consideration for the plurality of objects. Compared with the traditional cadre inspection, stereoscopic inspection is far more comprehensive on content. With no least than 6 aspects of information sources, it is available for the inspection group to make a synthetic analysis on a particular leading group or cadre.
Supplement of the third-party investigation. Commissioned to an independent survey agency and based on informed and relevance principles, this investigation organized 81 units of major projects, 100 business owners, 120 “Party Representatives, NPC Deputies and CPPCC Committees" and 150 villager\'s representatives and collected their evaluation opinions on the service quality and attitude and work efficiency of the departments directly under city government, thus avoiding the "statement of one school".
Crack hard-nuts: integrated use of results and strict execution of rewards and accountability
Checking responsibility aimed at promoting performance. After inspections, the final inspection results of comprehensive analysis of judgments on each leading group and its member will be formed through comparative qualitative and quantitative analyses.
According to inspection results and the usual situation, 109 county-level Party and Government leading groups, 101 county-level chief Party and Government officials and 723 county-level cadres have been classified respectively and excellent leading groups, competent leading groups and disadvantaged leading groups have been selected; so have been the cadres, classified into three levels: excellent, competent and disadvantaged. Then, according to the results, the Organization Department of the Municipal Party Committee gave feedbacks to the leading groups and cadres one by one, which had blushed cadres’ faces and made them sweaty. Meanwhile, inspection results, which were closely related with the annual assessment and objective assessment, determined the bonus points.
Combined with special investigations, the whole city have kept on highlighting a batch of good examples publicly: encouraging 67 cadres (including 20 chief Party and Government officials) who were willing to take responsibilities, bear hardships, undertake risks and think innovatively through a collective statement. For example, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission had seized the opportunity of "micro-stimulus" policy, won four national "Gold Signboard" pilots, including "First Batch of National Model City on New Energy Construction", and embraced all pilot projects planned by the National Development and Reform Commission.
As for the units and inPiduals with "no achievement, slothful response, and disorder performance", strict accountability system has to be set up to form powerful deterrent. So far, to leading groups which failed to perform well internally with low working condition and efficiency and cadres with no achievement, slothful response, and disorder performance", we have given reminders and appointed interviews; to ineffective chief Party and Government officials, senior cadres who work with no passion and underperformed cadres who work with barriers and bad mood, we have made personal reminders and interviews with them; to cadres who caused negative effect for nonfeasance, we have conversed them for admonishment and encouragement; to poorly-reflected leading groups, adjustment and replenishment had been made.
The inspection also contains demands for all the units of each region that they should specify the rectification measures to boost cadres effectively and strengthen their responsibilities on diligent and good governance. Thought more than 5500 immediate rectification-needed items were determined in the whole city, 90% of them have finished the rectification and 28 special rectifications have been carried out. From January to September, 2014, 231 public-damaging prominent issues inspected from grassroots were discovered in the whole city, among which, 57 cases were legally investigated with 66 people, punished by party and administrative disciplines, 10 people, transferred to judicial organ; 166 "Four Briberies" cases with 138 people were disposed.
Through special investigation, it is possible to inspire “industry and eminence” and punish "indolence", forcing "inaction" to "efficiency", “lazy” to “industry” and "incompetence" to “action” and knocking out the undutiful officials. With favorable effect, now Yichang has enjoyed a good momentum in economic and social development and other aspects, and seven breakthroughs have been made in reform and innovation, namely, market access system, streamline administration and institute decentralization, investment system, social credit system, industry regulatory system, comprehensive law enforcement and institutional mechanism innovation in hi-tech zone. (Formerly published in the International Business Daily on December 16th, 2014, with Liu Bing as reporter)