Swatting flies that plague rural areas

A gavel in a court. [Photo/IC]

The downfall of a village head in North China's Hebei province has shed light on the dark side of grassroots officials in the country's vast rural areas.

Meng Lingfen, former chief of Quanqiuer village in suburban Dingzhou, Hebei province, was recently sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for embezzlement, causing disturbance and intentional damage of property.

Meng was dubbed the "most fierce village head" by netizens after she summoned some thugs to beat a reporter who was trying to find out the happenings after receiving a tipoff from a villager in August last year.

An investigation promptly ensued after the beating was exposed by the media. And a slew of illegal acts by Meng were soon revealed.

During her stint as village head since 2012, Meng frequently abused her power to infringe upon collective property such as the village's land and forest.

It is reported that she also collected money under the guise of fees, threatened those villagers who refused to pay with violence, or "taught a lesson" to disobedient villagers by destroying their crops or property.

Meng's case has prompted a question of why some village officials become village overlords who can act without restraint. Meng is just one of the many such village overlords exposed in recent years.

The fall from grace of high-ranking officials, the so-called big tigers, always makes headlines when they are netted in the country's ongoing anti-graft campaign.

However, it is the "small flies", or the low-level corrupt officials that plague the vast rural areas, which make people feel the most pain.

A survey by the public security department of Hebei revealed that village officials accounted for 70 percent of all the corruption cases involving grassroots officials in the province, which highlights the problems that exist in the selection process of these grassroots officials.