NA deputies propose expanded supervisory competence

 Several National Assembly (NA) deputies called for the expansion of the supervisory competence of NA and People’s Council deputies to be added in a related draft law at a discussion in Hanoi on October 9. 

According to the NA’s Committee on Legal Affairs, a law on the supervisory activities of the NA and People’s Councils is instrumental to remove existing shortcomings in the work. 

Participants at the discussion, jointly held by the NA Office and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said the draft law stipulates that supervisors, which are NA and People’s Council deputies, have the right to ask authorised agencies to punish leaders of supervised agencies and organisations which commit violations. 

However, the bill does not clarify which agencies are competent to deal with violations, which is a big problem when the law is enforced, they stressed. 

Some attendees suggested the draft law expand the questioning right of the NA deputies by naming leaders of local administrations among those who could be questioned, elaborating that in some cases of public interest in certain localities, the NA deputies in charge of those localities were unable to raise voices about related matters. 

Meanwhile, many participating journalists said it is necessary to specify the responsibility of the supervisors and the supervised to maximise the effectiveness, adding that the current supervisory activities are still behind expectations. 

The law on the supervisory activities of the NA and People’s Councils are scheduled to be examined and approved at the NA’s 10 th session, which will commence in mid-October.-VNA