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Fulfill your duty, deputies

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-12 07:52

NPC delegates should read the government's budget report meticulously and deliberate on it incisively, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

Since the government's revenue comes from taxpayers, public spending should be monitored strictly to ensure every penny is used fairly. The government budget deliberation is the very first step of public spending. So NPC delegates should act as people's supervisors to examine each and every detail of the budget.

But in reality few deputies read the budget report. Most of them nod their heads without even knowing what they are agreeing to.

Complaints against corruption such as using public money to pay for officials' recreational activities and foreign travel, and rising costs of buying and maintaining public vehicles have become commonplace in the deputies' speeches. But it is ridiculous for them to criticize some persons or departments for wasting public money and nodding their heads in agreement to budget reports full of loopholes. Not all deputies are expected to criticize budget reports like experts.

But they should at least attend the reference meetings arranged by the Ministry of Finance for budget deliberation and air their views. But more often than not NPC deputies don't attend the meetings. This means very few of them fulfill their duties as public representatives.

(China Daily 03/12/2010 page10)