To analyze the distortions identified in the attention given to complaints from the population, Las Tunas recently hosted the Second Citizen Attention Workshop, led by William Hernández Álvarez, head of the citizen attention department of the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN, in Spanish), which was aimed at the workers of the Business Group of Commerce of the territory.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- This workshop was also an early warning call for when the Citizen Attention Law is put into effect, said the MINCIN official, “Each one of us must recapitulate and analyze individual responsibilities regarding the people's complaints.”

Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic establishes that state bodies, their directors, officials, and employees are obliged to respect, attend to and respond to the people, maintain close ties with them, and submit to their control.

The Magna Carta establishes the duty of each one of the directors and bodies towards the people. Furthermore, people have the right to address their complaints and petitions to the authorities, who are obliged to deal with them and provide a timely response.

In the Department of Citizen Attention, some rules dictate how to guide people on the steps to follow to process a specific complaint.

“In terms of face-to-face attention, the main causes that come to the attention of the Ministry are mistreatment and delay of treatment, misinformation or ‘hair-splitting’.”

“The use of the MINCIN Wellbeing Platform, which is not reviewed daily by those in charge, is also identified as a deficiency, contributing to the delay in the attention of these cases and, therefore, in the response," said the head of the MINCIN's Citizen Attention Department.

He also added that it is impossible to carry out an administrative evaluation that does not have a political assessment, and a political background because when a person arrives at the Ministry it is because those responsible for the base failed to comply with the provisions of each of the resolutions, which casts doubt on the functioning of the state bodies.

“We need people within Commerce with positive qualities, who add to our work, who have mastered the information they need to know to transmit it to the population. We need to have a series of conditions that allow us to solve problems, be prepared, have charisma, and not spoil the people,” said Hernández Álvarez.

This platform is useful because it allows us to identify a series of vulnerabilities in the system of work at the base, to assume the management of citizen attention as a tool for prevention and improvement of the system of work, to achieve greater satisfaction of the people, and is that we must be aware that whoever comes to the attention of the population is a person with a problem, an approach in search of a solution.

LOCAL LOOK

The response to these complaints has been impacted by the strengthening of the activity and seeks to guarantee efficient attention, processing, and follow-up of the population's concerns.

Marilyn Jomarrón Miranda, director of Commerce in Las Tunas, said that in the province they work systematically on social networks to inform the population, as well as maintaining a close link with the media in the territory to reach consumers.

“A total of 157 verbal surveys were conducted so far this year, and complaints and suggestions are being responded to in the established terms.”

“The main issues raised in these surveys are the elderly who do not have a change of address, procedures related to leaving the country, requests for the creation of nuclei without a legal document for the home and without a change of address, delays in the distribution of the regulated family basket.

“In Las Tunas, concerning the Plataforma Bienestar (Wellbeing Platform), the cases are received and responded to without them going out of time, receiving a total of 17 complaints through this channel.”

“Actions are identified such as designing work systems that allow the units to work together to minimize complaints. Training programs are also being developed so that team members know how to respond to consumers,” Jomarrón Miranda concluded.

One of the shortcomings is that not all companies have been incorporated into the platform, but the government is trying to respond to the population.