Top legislator urges wide media coverage of People's Councils' operations

Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan stressed the need to widely cover the operations of People’s Councils on various means of mass media, particularly including decisions on important issues of localities, supervision activities and the handling of voters’ opinions and recommendations.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaks at the conference. (Photo: VNA)

Speaking at the first meetings of standing boards of the People’s Councils of cities and provinces in the Red River delta and northern coastal region (2016-2021 tenure) in Nam Dinh province on August 26, NA Chairwoman Ngan asked news agencies to give timely coverage of people’s opinions about the operations of the local People’s Councils and their deputies, thereby creating a broad platform for the building and issuance of effective and practical policies.

The NA leader hailed the conference as a good initiative contributing practically to highlighting the position of all-level People’s Councils, as well as improving their operational quality and efficiency.

In order to properly perform the functions and jurisdictions of the People’s Councils, she urged the municipal and provincial People’s Councils and their standing boards to build on the experience and achievements of the previous tenure, closely follow the resolutions of the 12th National Party Congress and the provincial Party congresses, and be more proactive and creative in deciding important issues of the localities, aiming to create a solid foundation for sustainable local development.

People’s Councils need to renovate methods and forms of law enforcement, focusing on disseminating and educating people on the law, in order to raise awareness among local people and ensure their compliance with the Constitution and law, the top legislator said.

She also stressed the necessity to renovate supervision methods as well as the forms of questions and answers (Q&A) so as to improve practicality and effectiveness of Q&A activities, highlight the responsibilities of questioned agencies, and pay attention to the post-supervision issue to ensure supervision resolutions of the People’s Councils are enforced in reality.

NA Chairwoman Ngan also requested the standing boards of the People’s Councils to work closely with the local People’s Committees and Fatherland Fronts to properly perform the tasks of the local authorities as stipulated by the law, and coordinate closely with the NA’s bodies and the Ministry of Home Affairs during their operations, aiming to create consensus between the central and local levels, and strengthening the operational capacity and efficiency of the People’s Councils.

At the conference, deputies focused discussion on the five main issues: experience and solutions to improving the effectiveness of Q&A activities at the meetings of the People’s Councils and their standing boards; the building and implementation of the People’s Councils’ supervision programmes; measures to enhance the quality of citizen reception of People’s Council deputies; improving the advisory capacity of the Offices of the municipal and provincial People’s Councils; and training operational techniques for People’s Council deputies.

(Source: NDO)