Making government clean and accountable
- By Wen Jiabao
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 2, 2012
(4) Promote the reform of administrative expenses management. Frugality and diligence have always been central to the CPC's activities and philosophy. Frugality must be maintained and extravagance must be curbed at all times. The first step toward achieving these aims is to strictly control the three public consumptions, which must be fully budgeted and disclosed. This year's aim should be zero growth of the three public consumptions. The management of conference and travelling expenses should be improved and the way in which official receptions are organized and held should be reformed further, with the result that official standards are strictly followed. Expenses related to the board and lodging of officials on business, especially the leading cadres, must be within regulation limits. Using public funds to buy cigarettes, high-grade liquor and gifts should be prohibited. The government should further refine and strictly enforce the standards and provisions in this regard, which authorities at all levels, state-owned enterprises and institutions should abide by. All official equipement, including official vehicles, especially sports utility vehicles, should be strictly controlled. The leading cadres should set an example by following the regulatory relevant provisions. There must also be increased and more detailed openness with regard to the service condition of the three public consumptions. The second step is to strictly control the construction and renovation of office buildings by both the governments and the state-owned enterprises and institutions. Indulgence in opulence or luxury in any regard is prohibited, and the acquisition of expensive works of art via public funds or the abuse of power should be curtailed. To this end, the government should devise and implement appropriate regulations and strengthen supervision and management. The third step is to restrain and regulate celebratory activities, seminars and forums, especially those which are sponsored by public funds. Budget management, approval procedures and accountability must be given priority. State-owned and state-controlling enterprises and state-owned financial institutions must not be allowed to sponsor activities which fall outside of their scope of business. Invitations to party or state leaders, foreign dignitaries or former politicians must go through strict approval procedures and the scale of such invitations and visits must be controlled.
(5) The financial management of the executive authorities and state-owned enterprises and institutions should be strengthened. A sound financial system and strict supervision and management systems are crucial in the drive to prevent corruption. The first step to achieving this aim is to expand the application scope of official card settlement system. By the end of this year, the reform of the official card settlement system, at all levels of governments and their respective budget units, should be fully implemented. To reduce cash circulation in in official expenditure, the central budget units should strictly enforce the mandatory official card settlement directory. In addition, local governments should formulate and implement their official card settlement directories and this should be done as soon as possible. The second step is to improve cash management. The management system, which works to limit the withdrawals and use of large amounts of cash, should be studied and tweaked in order to reduce the direct flow of cash and the out-of-accounts cash circulation. The third step is to improve the restraint and regulation mechanism of position-related consumption by heads of state-owned enterprises and financial institutions and to this end prohibitive provisions must be formulated as soon as possible. Reimbursement procedures should be tightened and all such requests should be reported to the regulatory authorities and officially recorded. The fourth step is to further improve invoice management and the financial reimbursement system. Invoice management and use must adhere to the relevant provisions. The extraction of public funds through false invoices should be prohibited and violations punished.
(6) The long-term basic work to ensure that the fight against corruption continues unabated. The first step toward achieving this aim is to improve self-discipline among the leading cadres. Disciplinary offences committed by officials must be prevented. The system which deals with the reporting of officials' personal matters should be strictly adhered to; there should be more intense supervision on officials whose spouses and children have moved abroad. Supervision and inspection should be continuously intensified and this system should be further developed. Activities which may affect the impartiality of officials with relation to the appropriation of public funds should be discontinued. Measures which prevent the receiving of cash and gifts, securities, instrument of payment and commercial prepaid cards among leading cadres should be strengthened where necessary. Illegal house construction, house hoarding and the sale and leasing of affordable houses or low-rent houses should be prevented, as should illegal lending and improper trust management. The service-term auditing system of economic responsibility should be continued, and a comprehensive auditing system should be devised and implemented. The second step is to impel the formulation of a system of government ethics. There should be stricter supervision of the implementation of major decisions and plans made by the central government. Solid enforcement of orders and prohibitions should be ensured to improve the administrative execution capability. Laziness, slackness, negligence and misdeeds among administrative authorities should be comprehensively addressed. Government staff at all levels should cultivate a greater sense of responsibility, and must be assiduous, practical and pragmatic. Over-formality and excessive bureaucracy must be overcome. Presently, complex conferences, long and tedious documents and clichéd speeches are "chronic diseases", which call for determination and the joint efforts from all levels of governments and departments. The third step is to address and rectify instances of malpractice that harm public interests. Charges in the banking, telecommunications and circulation sectors should be investigated and normalized in order to eliminate illegal and excessive charges and thereby relieve the burden on both enterprises and the public. The arbitrary collection of fees in agriculture and education, as well as harmful practices in health care should be eliminated. Pressing issues in land acquisition and resettlement, housing, land management, food and drug safety, environmental protection and production safety should be thoroughly addressed and systems overhauled if necessary. The act regulating levies and compensation for houses built on state-owned land must be strictly implemented. The levy and compensation regulations on rural collective land acquisition should be introduced as soon as possible; rural land rights protection enhanced; and the acquisition of urban and rural land well managed. Affordable housing projects must be tracked and audited during the entire process. The construction, distribution, operation and management of affordable housing must be carefully carried out. The fraudulent purchasing and leasing of houses and disguised welfare housing must be addressed and ultimately prevented. Affordable housing regulations must benefit the people and be run openly and transparently. The fourth step is to stringently and thoroughly investigate and prosecute corruption cases. The current momentum and appetite for investigating and handling corruption cases and punishing corrupt individuals and corporations must be maintained. Abuse of power, trading power for money, bribery and dereliction of duty must be punished. Cases concerning engineering construction, real estate development, land management and mineral resource development, as well as cases of insider trading, affiliated transactions and interest transfer should be treated with the utmost seriousness. Commercial bribery cases are no exception. There must be an attitude of zero tolerance shown towards all guilty elements.
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