Farmers in outlying Guiye Village, one of the most
poverty-stricken lands in Guizhou Province, separated their
official seal into five parts to share fiscal power between the
local government and villagers, Chongqing Evening News
reported Wednesday.
The seal was previously held by an official, and used to certify
purchases made by the local government. Now, the parts of the seal
are held by four village representatives elected among local
farmers and one government official.
The five seal owners have the power to decide government
expenditures which total approximately 5,000 yuan (US$676.3) each
year. The local government can only spend the money when at least
three of the owners agree to seal.
Continuous suspicion from local farmers on how the village
authorities spent revenue propelled the division of the fiscal seal
last year, the newspaper reported. The idea to divide the seal came
from Tan Hongyuan, a village accountant, and local officials were
quick to adopt the measure.
After the division of the seal, financial disputes are rare in
the village as the local accountant neglects no minimum government
expenditure, like 5.1-yuan rice wine, two-yuan bean-curd, and
26.2-yuan pork.
Experts applaud the decision to divide the seal and treat it as
part of the democratic progress in China's rural villages, the
newspaper reported. The report also quoted some online messages
that said the villagers' ideas for a clearer budget are much more
important than the divided seal.
(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, December 5, 2007)
