Tens of thousands of records per month, ward leaders sit and sign all day
In Binh Duong ward - one of the most populous areas in Ho Chi Minh City with more than 107,000 people and 7 industrial parks - in July 2025 alone, the ward's Public Administration Service Center received 7,290 records. Notably, the rate of medical records and certificates accounts for 73.5%, equivalent to more than 26,000 signatures of the ward People's Committee leaders within one month.
On average, each working day, Binh Duong ward leaders must sign nearly 1,200 signatures - a figure showing the huge amount of administrative work that ward leaders are having to carry out, while still having to carry out other tasks related to local management, urban order inspection, reception, and direction of residential groups...
Not only that, after the merger, the ward also received many more tasks under the authority of the previous district/county such as: Registration of business households, issuance of house numbers, registration of changes in land use rights, issuance of construction permits. In the first month after the merger, 1,217 records of this group were resolved on time - clearly demonstrating that the locality is "carrying" many new tasks but the apparatus has not been strengthened accordingly.
In Tan Binh ward (HCMC), the pressure is not less. According to Mr. Tran Quang Tung - Deputy Director of the Tan Binh Ward Public Administration Service Center - each day the unit receives 300-400 records, most of which are medical and certification requirements.
"There are cases where people and businesses deposit hundreds of bribes at the same time. The recipient must be very strict with the regulations and resolve them quickly and accurately. But the biggest pressure is still on the leaders, when they have to sign and approve a huge amount of documents every day" - Mr. Tung shared.
Mr. Tung said that due to having to " sit and sign all day", the ward leaders do not have enough time to focus on local development tasks, inspect the scene, and handle urgent civil situations. Therefore, he recommended that it is necessary to soon delegate authority to competent officials such as the judiciary, civil status or the Public Administration Center specialist who are signed on behalf of the agency, to both reduce the burden and improve service efficiency.
Officials "run" work, strive to serve the people
In Hanoi, after the merger, many wards are also in a similar situation. In Nghia Do ward, cadres and civil servants must be present to work from 7am, many working days until 10pm. A ward leader shared: It is true to be closer to the people. The staff signed the documents all day, signing diligently to return the results on the same day. More killing the people is because cadres now have the right to directly solve civil affairs and daily problems. However, this is also a big pressure.
Although people's desire to meet leaders directly is legitimate, with only two Vice Chairmen of the ward, 92 jobs/day and a large area, grassroots cadres must mainly rely on digital data such as VNeID to handle, instead of going down to the area.
In Lang Ward, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung - Chief of Office of the Ward People's Committee - said that the headquarters does not have enough offices, lacks machinery and equipment, and is not staffed enough. Meanwhile, the ward currently carries about 470 jobs according to the commune decentralization and nearly 300 more jobs from the district. The issue of signing the legal certificate is still being implemented by the ward leaders, directly the Chief of Office.
According to Mr. Hung, the area is larger, the population is larger, but only one person has to sign while there are still meetings, inspections of establishments, receiving citizens... then the pressure is very high. Mr. Hung proposed that the City People's Council soon issue a resolution for judicial civil servants to sign a copy, authenticate and stamp the People's Committee.
Extending the government's arms to each residential group
In new wards such as Cau Giay and Yen So, the leadership team affirmed that the two-level government model has increased proactiveness, helping to quickly solve problems of the people. However, that comes with a lot of pressure.
Mr. Ngo Ngoc Phuong - Chairman of Cau Giay Ward People's Committee - said that the new ward is 3-4 times larger than the old ward. Most of the staff have not received in-depth training in handling district-level work, having to work, cross-train, and learn from each other.
Meanwhile, Ms. Tran Thanh Nga - Vice Chairman of Yen So Ward People's Committee - said: "Now that people have complained, ward officials can receive and handle it immediately, without having to wait for the district's response as before". However, the large area of management, both organizing the apparatus, receiving administrative records and handling civil procedures at the same time, has caused many cadres to "run" work every day.
I myself always have to open legal documents right away when working to both read and direct subordinates to implement. We can't wait until the report is completed to start handling it" - Ms. Nga said.
According to Ms. Nga, to make the apparatus truly "close to the people and close to the people", it is necessary to promote the role of residential groups and party cell secretaries - those who are close and have a good grasp of the local situation, contributing to sharing the burden with the ward.
City takes action, strongly recommends decentralization
Working Group No. 3 of the Steering Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Congress, led by Mr. Vo Van Minh - Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council - recently had a working session with localities such as Tang Nhon Phu, Linh Xuan, Tam Binh, Nha Be... to grasp the situation after the merger.
Through supervision, Mr. Vo Van Minh noted that administrative reform work has been put into order but there are many shortcomings, in which the overload of medical records and certificates accounts for 2/3 of procedures at the one-stop department of the commune and ward. This pressure is on the shoulders of Vice Chairmen of the Ward People's Committee - who have to receive citizens and sign hundreds of documents/day.
Mr. Minh emphasized that it is impossible for local leaders to sit and sign medical records and certify them like that forever and said that there needs to be an effective solution, while developing a private notary system to share the burden with State agencies.
The Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council said that the city will decentralize and delegate power more strongly, allowing the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune or ward to be authorized to be the Deputy Director of the Public Administration Center or a qualified specialist to sign the certification and notarization, ensuring compliance with regulations and not slowing down the progress of serving the people.
