context: Recent evidence indicates that Beijing is open to being more creative when it comes to evaluating local officials. But it is becoming painfully apparent that nearly constant inspections of lower-level governments are taking a heavy toll on cadres and their local responsibilities.
Referring to growing concern and complaints from some officials that central-level investigations of local affairs are taking time away from the very task Beijing has insisted they carry out, a report in People’s Daily asks, how did formalism emerge in inspection work?
Inspection and assessment, the article notes, should improve the work style of local cadres by holding them accountable for implementing central directives and carrying out their duties. But local officials often do not know whether they should be spending more time and energy implementing solutions to local problems or preparing for another round of investigation that will likely require rectification on their part. Beijing urges local officials to concentrate on the ‘last kilometre’—making sure solutions reach everyone in society. But continual rounds of inspections are creating bureaucratic burdens for the ‘middle kilometre’, the cadres assigned to implement those solutions. Enormous amounts of money, time and other resources are spent, according to the paper, on officials readying and presenting materials for inspection, instead of allowing them to focus on actual policy.
The article argues that the standard should be about whether the masses are happy and satisfied, for it is only officials who read inspection reports and investigation results, not residents. Investigations should start focusing on the current state of local affairs, rather than trying to determine whether cadres are sufficiently diligent in all their duties.