Despite many agencies in Vietnam reporting that they are doing their work well and that "all procedures are going smoothly," various problems continue to plague the country.

The illegal promotion of officials, the illegal granting land use rights and construction licences and illegal price rises on monopoly goods and services; are these the examples of smooth procedures that local agencies are talking about?

In an interview with the Vietnam Economy Newspaper, Nguyen Sy Cuong of the National Assembly's Legal Committee said that it was strange that so many agencies were insisting that they were implementing procedures perfectly yet had to explain their mistakes or wrongdoings.

"A serious mistake by a hospital that led to a death of a patient, a serious wrongdoing by a judicial body resulting in a man being wrongly imprisoned for 18 years, or a customs officer letting 230 kilos of drugs through, and then these agencies all claim they followed the right procedures? I think it’s rather obvious that they are just trying to deny responsibility," Cuong stressed.

At present, food safety is one of the biggest problems hitting the country. It is predicted that Vietnam will probably see a cancer epidemic in the next five years due to dirty food.

Deputy Tran Ngoc Vinh once told a NA meeting that "the road from the stomach to the cemetery has never seemed so short and straight."

Despite the situation, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat told a recent NA meeting that there was good co-operation with the Ministry of Health on food safety management.

His statement has been widely criticised. Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Dinh La Thang strongly reacted at the meeting: "How can you say ‘good co-operation’ when the number of food poisoning cases are on the rise? Or do you mean we have to wait until the procedures work properly?"

 Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat were strongly criticised when saying that there was a good co-operation between his ministry and the Ministry of Health on food safety management.

Recently, Danang City Party Secretary, Nguyen Xuan Anh proposed that the city set up a steering committee on food safety management with members from various city departments.

Many such agencies have been urgently established to deal with rising problems in Vietnam, but with a lack of accountability and scrutiny, most of them just turn out to be a waste of money.