Citizens as ultimate corruption inspectors

Considering the current level of compensation for public officials, this bribe is worth multiple times what the individual would make in her entire career. The temptation is real, and it is somewhat understandable why all 24 members of the inspectorate led by her turned a blind eye to the corruption.

The inspectorate is the gatekeeper of wrongdoing to detect, prevent, and take early actions against the negative behaviors of both organizations and individuals. How can we make this gatekeeping operational with transparency and integrity?

This is an important question due to two reasons. First, in the current political landscape with corruption still posing a major risk, the government needs a strong inspectorate function to fulfil its duties. Great powers and responsibilities come together, making these officials very susceptible to the wicked corruption of money.

Concerned about this risk, Communist Party's General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said at the 2021 National Convention of Domestic Political Agencies that anti-corruption needs to start first at government agencies at the forefront of the battle, whose responsibilities are to prevent corruption from occurring in the system.

Second, besides turning a blind eye to wrongdoings, another risk related to inspectorate agencies is the risk of government officials molesting the inspected organizations. For too long, corporates have been haunted by petty corruption from small-level public officials, ranging from facilitation money to outright demands of briberies.

In the 2022 Provincial Competitiveness Index, 14% of corporates paid "unofficial" money for inspectorate tours, while 7.4% of corporates receive more than three inspectorate visits a year. Despite inspection being a vital activity, it often causes corporates more headaches.

Finding effective solutions to maintain the inspection and monitoring while decreasing the risks of petty corruption is not an easy issue.

The most visible solution is to have an accountability and inspectorial mechanism against the inspectorate departments themselves, the "inspectors of inspectors". This might be a costly solution without really addressing the issue.

The new mechanism would disperse further the inspecting responsibilities and make the function less effective. Additionally, it may create some "super inspectorate" departments, increasing the risks of power fragmentation and internal discontent.

The second solution is to create a better framework for the inspectorate activities to be conducted correctly. In reality, with timely decisions by the government in the past few years, the percentage of corporate having to pay undue money to inspectors reduced sharply from 51.9% in 2017 to 14% last year.

Every system has loopholes, as systems are created by humans, and can be manipulated by humans. Having a top-down inspection always carries certain limitations, with additional costs, financial, time, and human resources that make related officials less willing to contribute.

Therefore, the government needs to implement the third solution, the inspection by the general population. Corruption carries damage to the whole society, so every citizen has a certain responsibility in scrutinizing corruption and bribery to the best of their ability. Citizens are exposed daily to corruption and very sensitive to social inequality. The government, in turn, needs to create suitable platforms for citizens to voice their concerns.

To achieve this, besides the current laws on access to information and laws on implementation of grassroots-level democracy, the government must be held accountable for their actions.

The participation of the population in inspectorial activities could have positive influences on the government’s efficiency and transparency, and help the citizens to maximise their democratic rights. Eventually, the last gatekeepers of democracy are citizens.

*Nguyen Khac Giang is a researcher in policymaking and government transparency. He is a PhD candidate at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.