Chapter 47 Chapter 45: Disadvantages of frequent transfer of officials

In the absence of a strict anti-corruption system, the disorderly and frequent transfer of key officials has nothing to do with incorruptibility, but it can help corruption. "When you are young now, you should change jobs in a few more places so that you have more qualifications." On April 18, 2009, a friend working in Yunnan told the reporter, "There is a lot of pressure. (Department) level, there are not many opportunities for promotion." This friend had been the "top leader" in the area for less than two years before he received a transfer order to work elsewhere.According to him: "In the past few years, several positions have been tossed, and some of them don't even have a hot seat."

In recent years, the central government has put forward the requirement of implementing the tenure system for cadres, and many localities have carried out many useful explorations.But in fact, in some places, it is more common for leading cadres to be transferred too frequently, and it is difficult to complete their tenure. The reporter's investigation found that the random and disorderly flow of major officials not only induced problems such as short-term governance ideas, impetuous governance behavior, and bubbles in governance performance, but also undermined normal job promotion rules and encouraged the "running for officials" "" The spread of corruption such as "buying and selling officials".

Relevant experts interviewed believe that in order to solve the problem of frequent transfer of key officials, it is necessary to start with the strict implementation of the tenure system, further improve the mechanism for the unification of appointment and removal of cadres and the appointment and removal of cadres according to the law, and strengthen the implementation of the tenure system of officials by the people's congresses and competent departments at all levels. The intensity of supervision and inspection of the situation.This is a direction for the reform of the cadre personnel system after my country abolished the life tenure of officials.

In recent years, there have been many cases where the higher authorities have announced job transfers before the statutory term of office of many local key officials has expired. Such transfers are usually sudden, and the reason is often simply "according to work needs." On August 6, 2006, the central government promulgated the "Interim Provisions on the Term of Office of Party and Government Leading Cadres" and "Regulations on the Exchange of Party and Government Leading Cadres". It is necessary to properly handle the relationship between the term of office of officials and the exchange of officials.

In fact, contrary to frequent transfers, it is not uncommon for major officials to serve in one place or position for more than ten years for a long time, which has created an intricate network of local relations for some officials and provided opportunities for small groups or individuals to seek illegal benefits. convenient. The introduction of these two documents is considered to be a "combination punch" that is related to each other. The former stipulates that officials should remain stable during their term of office and should not be frequently transferred;This shows that our party has a clear sense of self-discipline and innovation in the cadre management system.

Experts interviewed pointed out that if these two documents can be truly implemented, the problem of officials whose tenure is too short or too long will also be effectively resolved.However, the reporter's investigation found that the situation was not satisfactory. On the contrary, the problem of frequent transfer of officials that existed before has become more and more serious. According to Article 58 of the "Organization Law of Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments of the People's Republic of China", "The term of office of local people's governments at all levels is five years."But in many places, not only are the "top leaders" in the county frequently mobilized, but the township team is even more prominent. They are appointed almost once a year, and they often do not hold one term.

Tao Siliang, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice president and secretary-general of the China Association of Mayors, once randomly surveyed 150 cities in my country.The results of the survey show that during the mayor term of these cities from 2002 to 2006, 92 cities changed their mayors once, accounting for 61.3%; 38 cities changed their mayors twice, accounting for 25.3%; 13.3% have not been replaced, only 20 cities. A typical case is that from 1993 to 2009, nine people successively served as the mayor of Handan, Hebei Province. On February 15, 2009, 54-year-old Guo Dajian was elected mayor of Handan City.The eight mayors before him served an average of less than two years.

Many interviewees believe that capable officials should be promoted and reused, but the frequent transfer of key officials can easily create room for rent-seeking power. At the same time, due to the inconsistency between the development ideas of the successor and the former officials, policy changes are made every day, which is not conducive to the realization of tenure goals and the The development of the local economy also affects the image of the party and the government. The reporter's investigation found that because the term of office is too short, some officials are not interested in basic work that requires long-term planning and long-term investment, but are keen to engage in short-term "performance projects" out of the local actual situation and affordability. Many "big holes" and "messes" were left behind.

The development of each locality requires leading cadres to explore within the statutory term of office, and it also takes time and patience to resolve the conflicts involved.When the reporter interviewed some grassroots in Beijing, many people reported that some officials now take a position in one place, and basically "see it for one year, work for two years, and wait for three years to change", and some even decide how to leave as soon as they take office. Didn't put much energy into work. Regarding the tenure and exchange of officials, Professor Zhang Ming from the Department of Political Science at Renmin University of China believed in an interview with reporters that the main purpose is to prevent officials from engaging in nepotism. "Although it is impossible to say that there is a problem of corruption in the employment of local officials, some officials are transferred to other places shortly after they are not familiar with or just familiar with it, which makes local governance lack long-term and stability. "

"When the original leader was about to leave but didn't leave, and the new leader was about to come but was not in place, a lot of work in some agencies stagnated." A young civil servant in an agency directly under Beijing believes, "If leaders are frequently transferred, it is easy to disrupt The organization’s work deployment, especially some people, spend all their time figuring out the new leadership’s intentions, and seldom do the work in a down-to-earth manner.” Too frequent transfer of officials also directly contributed to the formation of buying and selling officials.For example, Wu Baoan, the former secretary of the county party committee in Yicheng County, Shanxi Province, said at various meetings many times after taking office that he would carry out major exchanges and major adjustments of cadres, accumulating 5 million yuan in wealth.Li Tiecheng, the former vice-chairman of the Baishan CPPCC in Jilin Province and the former head of the United Front Work Department of the Baishan Municipal Party Committee, served as the secretary of the Jingyu County Party Committee. During the six years, more than 500 cadres in the county were adjusted more than 840 times. More than ten thousand yuan.

According to reports, among the 18 corrupt county Party secretaries who have been sacked in Anhui in recent years, many of them took advantage of the "shuffling" of cadres and personnel immediately after taking office to sell their officials and ranks to amass wealth. "The frequent transfer of officials is a disregard for our country's Constitution and the Organic Law of Local People's Congresses at All Levels and Local People's Governments." Du Liyuan, a lawyer from Beijing Zhongsheng Law Firm, said in an interview with reporters. Officials are elected and selected through the "Election Law", "Party Constitution", "Regulations on the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Cadres" and other regulations. They need to go through strict procedures before they can be assigned important tasks. However, officials are frequently transferred by their superiors before their term of office expires. , which runs counter to my country’s goal of building a society ruled by law.” Many interviewees believe that the frequent transfer of key officials during their term of office has, to a certain extent, turned the local electoral system into a disguised appointment system. It can be seen from the survey that officials are frequently transferred during their term of office. Apart from the loopholes in the system, the main reason is that some places have a biased understanding of officials in the elective system. duty. Some existing laws and regulations are not rigorous and uniform enough, leaving a lot of room for flexibility in the random transfer of officials.For example, in the terms of the tenure system, there is a lack of clear regulations on whether it is one term or multiple terms, and whether the term system applies to some officials or all officials. In addition, Article 36 of the "Constitution of the Communist Party of China" stipulates: "Leading cadres at all levels of the party, whether they are democratically elected or appointed by leading organs, their positions are not life-long, and they can be changed or replaced. Dismissed.” This regulation is to prevent life tenure, but because there is no detailed term of office, it also makes it possible for cadres to be frequently transferred or serve for a long time. "Our country's cadre selection mechanism is used to centralizing power at the top. This is the root cause of the frequent transfer of officials." Zhang Ming believes, "Now the main officials in some places feel that their future is in the hands of their superiors. Everything they do It is mainly responsible for the superiors. Therefore, image projects and performance projects are carried out.” "The lack of a unified system design and the lack of an authoritative and effective organizational implementation system are one of the reasons why the tenure system is difficult to implement." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government Administration of Peking University, told reporters, "In the reform of the cadre personnel system, the tenure system is not It has not been regarded as a hard task, and it lacks a top-down binding force. Whether or not to implement it, and how to implement it, are highly arbitrary in different regions, and basically depend on the intentions of the leaders of each region.” According to the interviewed experts, the frequent transfer of officials is also related to the one-sided understanding of "cadre rejuvenation" in many places.According to regulations, in the provincial party committee team, there must be 3 under the age of 50, and 1 must be around 45 years old.In the process of elections in cities, counties and townships, the rejuvenation of cadres has also generally increased, and the main party and government officials in counties are around 45 years old. The reporter learned that these regulations have objectively prompted some local authorities to one-sidedly speed up the promotion of young cadres.Due to the leverage of age, especially the "one size fits all" approach to the age of office in some places, it has also exacerbated the anxiety of young cadres about promotion. "When there are vacancies in some positions that need to be filled urgently, of course outstanding officials can be mobilized in time and entrusted with important tasks." Yin Yungong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out in an interview with reporters, "For a place, it is important to establish a sound and strict system. The official appointment and dismissal mechanism enables officials to do their own work with peace of mind under good rules." Many interviewed experts suggested that it is urgent to solve the problem of how to unify the appointment and dismissal of cadres and the appointment and dismissal according to the law, to maintain the stability of the statutory term of office of cadres after the change of office, and to use it as a basis for the improvement of my country's democratic election system, the people's congress supervision system, and the inner-party democratic system. important content. In Western countries, the transfer of key officials is generally subject to the rules of the ballot game.However, for those civil servants in key positions and non-leading positions, most countries in the United States and Europe mainly rely on the improvement and restriction of the civil servant assessment process to complete. "It is necessary to formulate and revise the internal party regulations, and clearly define the term of office of officials at all levels, so that all localities can get rid of the current situation of independent exploration and lack of unified system and norms as soon as possible." Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor at Nankai University, said in an interview with reporters, " Elected officials should not be adjusted arbitrarily during their term of office. If there is an urgent need for transfer under special circumstances, the special reasons and reasons for the transfer of the official should also be explained to the electoral organ, and the democratic evaluation of the official's work by the electoral organ should be organized and accepted. .” It is gratifying that on April 24, 2009, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress reviewed and approved the draft amendment to the rules of procedure of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.This time, the draft amendment stipulates: "The proposal for appointment and removal shall be accompanied by the basic information and reasons for the appointment and removal of the candidate; when necessary, the relevant person in charge shall attend the meeting to answer inquiries." Regarding such regulations, Qi Shanhong commented that this is not a small progress, replacing "secret room administration" with "sunshine appointment and dismissal" can put an end to the phenomenon of "only results without reason" in the appointment and dismissal of officials in the past.However, the key is to get real implementation. "In the evaluation and promotion of officials, the requirement of tenure stability should be added." Professor Wang Yukai of the Public Administration Teaching and Research Department of the National School of Administration believes that "the evaluation and selection of officials should be carried out within the scope of the law, especially for the election of people's congresses at all levels. Officials. The term of the local government is every five years, and unless there are special circumstances, do not transfer too much.” "It is necessary to improve the performance appraisal system of officials and establish a comprehensive system of official tenure target responsibility." Li Chengyan believes that "officials elected by the National People's Congress should perform their duties within the determined term. Establish a supervision mechanism, focusing on officials' performance of duties during their tenure, Effective supervision of the exercise of powers and personal behavior to ensure that officials can effectively carry out their work during their term of office." "The selection of officials should not be 'one-size-fits-all' in terms of age." Professor Mao Shoulong, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China, believes that in addition to setting a lower age limit for important national leaders, other officials can be regulated through the tenure system. "Regardless of age, if you are capable and recognized, you are eligible to hold a certain position. After the term of office expires, regardless of your age, you should leave the position according to regulations."