The "powerful" man in Nang Phai village

“Without Ky, the villagers still do not believe, with him everything will be smooth” is a comment about the Secretary of Nang Phai Leo Van Ky village. This “powerful” man has a good economy , can say and do everything, is always ahead in the village, has prestige among the people…

Arriving at the beginning of Nang Phai village, Muong Bu commune, Muong La district, Son La , we felt like we were standing in front of a prosperous village in the plains. The first thing that caught our eyes was the spacious and well-kept concrete road leading to the village with 3 quite "grand" and eye-catching houses.

One of the three beautiful houses at the beginning of the village belongs to the family of Mr. Leo Van Ky, Party Secretary and Head of Nang Phai Village. When asked if his family's house is on the list of the most beautiful in the village, Mr. Ky waved his hand to dismiss it. "In 2010, I built this house for 1.4 billion VND. At that time, this house was the most beautiful in the whole commune, not just in the village. Now there are houses with better designs and larger space, but I got to live there first, and was happy for a decade before these households. That's already exciting!", Mr. Ky smiled humorously.

At the age of 68, Secretary Leo Van Ky has a lively, agile appearance, a clear voice and a hard-working demeanor. I remember, during a previous appointment to interview Secretary Ky, we got too far lost and could not guarantee the scheduled time.

When the appointment time was 30 minutes late, this secretary proactively called us with enthusiasm: "If you guys are late, we will go to work"... Having been rightfully refused, at that time we also had an initial idea about the decisiveness and hard-working nature of the secretary in Nang Phai village.

Mr. Ky said that he took on the position of Secretary of Nang Phai village in 2000 and that same year his family focused on economic development. Since then, Mr. Ky's family has always been a good economic family, while in the role of Party cell secretary, he has always completed his tasks excellently and has been "trusted forever".

His contributions and dedication over the past 20 years can be seen in part through the certificates of merit that line the living room wall, which, as a commune official said, “cannot be hung up”. Among them, the highest are the certificates of merit from the Provincial Party Secretary, the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee…

Sharing about his family's economy, Mr. Ky said that in recent years, his family has sold 10 tons of pigs or more each year and this is the biggest source of income. Along with that, the milling machine, 2 hectares of fruit trees with trees such as lychee, longan, mango and 3.8 hectares of bananas on the hilltop also bring in a decent income. In total, his family's income is about 300 million VND each year.

When asked if he was the type of person who “wanted to be rich”, Mr. Ky said not really. Starting from visiting and learning about economic development models everywhere, seeing people doing it, he was moved, wondering why he could not do it, and from then on, he strived to do it.

During his economic development, Mr. Ky was the first person to carry out large-scale livestock farming (pigs and cows) in Nang Phai village and Muong Bu commune. He was also a pioneer in abandoning the model of raising livestock under the house floor, moving the barns outside... This secretary was also the first to accept land expansion, household expansion, and moving to the edge of the village to do business.

Thanks to the ability to clear trees in advance, his family has a lot of land (2 hectares) to grow fruit trees and 3.8 hectares on the hilltop to grow bananas.

Determined to do business on a large scale, from the beginning he valued the role of science and technology. Many years ago he personally invited engineers to come to the tree grafting workshop and give instructions. The villagers watched and learned from them. Later, the villagers grafted trees more skillfully, better than the engineers, and even hired others to graft trees in other villages.

The economic model of Mr. Ky's family and the spirit of working to have food and property has spread and influenced the Party cell and the community in Nang Phai village. Talking about this, Mr. Muong Mun Thich, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Muong Bu commune, said: "From a purely agricultural village, life was very difficult, when the harvest failed, we had to eat rice mixed with cassava and banana trees; since the new way of doing things was introduced, Mr. Ky's family has been a pioneer, thereby convincing the people to follow suit."

It is worth mentioning that not only is Secretary Leo Van Ky willing to share his experiences and economic development models, he has also supported the households in the village many times. Leo Van Hop, a villager, said that some households in the village facing difficulties have been helped by Mr. Ky.

Mr. Ky said that since he started developing livestock farming, any household in the village that had the need and the ability to repay the debt was given piglets to raise. Along with that, there were households that Mr. Ky lent money to do business. "Over the years, my family's books have had quite a few cases of debt, some of them tens of millions of dong," Mr. Ky said.

It may be a bit modest when talking about family economics, but about Nang Phai village, Mr. Ky confidently asserts that his village is the richest in Muong Bu commune. The village has had no poor households since 2020 and has met the new rural standards since 2021.

Households exchange labor with each other to build houses, and every new house that is built is spacious, well-furnished, and comfortable. “In fact, only the houses on the main street in town that do business are better off than the households that do well economically here,” Mr. Ky proudly said.

With the Nang Phai village Party Cell, Secretary Ky's determination to do business is always "visible". In many meetings, before implementing the Party Cell's resolutions, he often emphasized that if Party members and cadres do poorly, don't expect the masses to listen... Up to now, 34 Party members in the Nang Phai village Party Cell are all economically well off or better off. Among them, according to Mr. Ky, there are people who have risen up and become people who can say and do.

Many households in the village have also made progress in economic development. Up to now, 50/148 households in the village have good economic development. Average income per capita reaches 54 million VND/year.

Mr. Ky’s economic model and spirit not only have influence in Nang Phai village but also spread to other villages and districts in the province. Villages in Ta Mu commune, Muong La district or even villages in Chieng Bang commune, Quynh Nhai district… have come to see, learn from Mr. Ky’s experience and model to follow.

Talking about his limitations, Secretary Leo Van Ky frankly said that he did not finish 5th grade and still does not know how to use a computer. But according to Mr. Muong Mun Thich, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Muong Bu commune, with his good economic performance, experience, and exemplary behavior, Mr. Ky is highly trusted by the people, is a support, is the center of solidarity of the village...

When asked which of the two roles he holds, is being a secretary or a village chief more difficult, Mr. Leo Van Ky said that both are difficult, and that one must be determined to make sacrifices and put the collective's interests first, because if one only focuses on one's own interests, one cannot do it. According to him, the allowance for both positions he currently holds is more than 4 million/month, "if one calculates carefully, one cannot do it and must be... generous".

Head of the Women's Union of Nang Phai Leo village, Thi Thuan, confirmed that Secretary Ky was not only the one who campaigned for road construction and new rural construction, but he also volunteered to support money for construction and supported any project in the village.

Mr. Ky argued that if party members and secretaries are inferior to the masses, have disharmonious families, do not have the means, and do not do things first, it will be very difficult for them to do everything. “Everyone listens to what I say because I do everything first. Even when it comes to paying taxes, the name Leo Van Ky must be at the top of the list. When people see my name, they pay immediately,” the “powerful” secretary shared.

Talking about the call for support for flood victims in previous years, he said that the village had agreed to collect the money within 3-4 days, ensuring 100% participation, not to be late by a day. In reality, this happened and when completed, the village had to submit it immediately to the higher level. He said that after collecting in the morning, it had to be handed over to the commune in the afternoon, but if the collection was left for a few months, it would be "dead immediately" (due to suspicion).

Deputy Secretary of the Muong Bu Commune Party Committee, Mr. Muong Mun Thich, shared that whenever the commune has a movement, it often takes Nang Phai village and Mr. Leo Van Ky as a model. “Mr. Ky is the center of solidarity, the support of the people. When Mr. Ky was not there, the people did not believe, but with him, everything will go smoothly,” the Deputy Secretary of the Commune Party Committee concluded.

Talking about Secretary Leo Van Ky, Muong La District Party Secretary Vu Duc Thuan and former Muong La District Party Secretary Nguyen Thanh Cong (currently Vice Chairman of Son La Provincial People's Committee) both acknowledged his contribution to the development of Nang Phai in recent years. Both leaders also emphasized the role of Secretary Leo Van Ky in mobilizing social resources to contribute to the community, especially in mobilizing people to donate land and mobilizing businesses to support the construction of spacious and beautiful roads in the village.

Content: Can Cuong, Phuong Thao, Pham Tuan Design: Thuy Tien

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Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/nguoi-dan-ong-quyen-luc-o-ban-nang-phai-20241016121149858.htm