Needed administrative reforms

British rulers devised the system in order to keep complete hold on their subjects of the then India who were ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse in nature. The administrative machinery was so structured and the bureaucracy was so groomed that it made the bureaucrats the masters of the people and not their servants. Bureaucrats, in their turn, obediently served the causes of their foreign masters and happily enjoyed the attendant perks and privileges.

Though belated, it is now being realised that an administrative system devised to serve the cause of foreign colonial rulers is not suitable for serving the cause of the people of an independent and developing country like Bangladesh.

The experience of last three and a half decades shows that by keeping the age-old administrative setup in place, successive post independence governments of Bangladesh have failed to deliver and fulfill the people's aspirations. One may say that in spite of shortcomings of the system, the country has achieved significant development in almost every sector of the national economy. This may be true. But, at the same time one may also say that with much needed reforms of the system, the achievements could be much bigger.

Perhaps it will not be impertinent to mention here that one of the main reasons behind the current pathetic state of affairs in the country's governance is the negative mindset of the bureaucracy coupled with incompetence and inefficiency.

Unlike the pre-independence era, these days, bright students, do not opt for civil service, as most of them feel that it has lost its so-called old charm, pomp and grandeur. This is more so because of availability of better career opportunities for them in the country's burgeoning private sector. Further, it may be noted that during the pre-independence days, the civil servants at the time of attending the training academies before job placement were given to understand that they were the masters of the people and that they were an elite class by themselves. This phenomenon, one understands, still exists in independent Bangladesh.

Civil servants have the wrong perception that they are the only custodians of national interest and that it is their responsibility to look after country's well being. They often try to influence government decisions by giving wrong advice to the ministers, hiding facts and resorting to procrastination at the behest of various interest groups. Unfortunately, at times, this is done in collusion with the ministers for obvious reasons. When the government changes, it is the ministers who face the consequences, but the civil servants remain unscathed.

Bureaucracy is the backbone of any administration. But when the backbone is too stiff, it is painful for the body. Hence, it calls for necessary curative measures. The existing large, centralized and top-heavy bureaucracy of Bangladesh is standing in the way of speedy decision-making and the implementation process. Instead of smoothening the process it creates roadblocks, some times intentionally and at times unknowingly due to sheer ignorance.

There are too many tiers in our bureaucratic hierarchy, thereby creating scope for procrastination, to the detriment of national interest and at times individual interests of the citizenry. Ironically, according to most recent finding of a local vernacular daily, there are around 300 officials without any job to do as they have been made officers on special duty (OSD). Most of them remain so for quite a long time and in addition, quite a good number of retired officers have been appointed at senior levels on contractual basis purely on political consideration. All these idle officers are being paid their usual salary and emoluments from the national exchequer. What a waste at the expense of the poor people.

Under the existing system, there is no scope for specialisation. Hence, the bureaucrats become jack-of-all-trades and master of none. In general, they are not given the opportunity to specialise in any particular field. Even if some one is lucky enough to receive specialised training in a particular field, either at home or abroad, he/she is not allowed to work in that field for long as the officials are frequently moved from one ministry to another without any consideration being given to the specialised training they received. Some times, promotion and transfer of officials are made based purely on the whims of the influential quarters and/or on political consideration. This is an unhealthy practice which is responsible for creating discontent and group rivalry among the civil servants to the detriment of good governance.

In view of the above, and in order to streamline the country's administrative system, it is imperative to undertake immediate reform measures keeping in mind the needs of the day if Bangladesh wants to improve its image and achieve the millennium development goals by 2015.

The first step to the above end should be towards decentralisation of the administration with a view to taking it to the district level in order to ensure peoples' involvement in the process. Administration at this level could be referred to as the "District Council" or "District Board" or whatever. The head of the administration could either be designated, as president or chairman and the position must be an elected one. Elected chairpersons of the union councils and municipalities under the district could constitute an advisory council, which could function as the local parliament without having to perform any legislative function, but to collectively monitor and oversee the performances of the local administration.

Responsibilities of the district authority should be to maintain law and order, plan and execute local development schemes/projects in sectors such as - infrastructure, agriculture, education, rural development, health and family welfare, oversee land administration and to extend necessary assistance to the central government in revenue collection. It should have the authority to issue licenses for doing business outside the jurisdiction of municipal authorities under the district and also to collect local tolls from market places (hats and bazaars) and water bodies (haors, bills and jolmohals) under commercial exploitation. In addition to annual fund allocation received from the central government, the district authority should be allowed to spend the fund raised locally through collection of tolls. The administration should be answerable to the district advisory council for its activities including all expenditures made.

The tenure of the district council should not be more than five years. President/Chairman as the chief executive of the district should be responsible for running the administration through various district level officials to be deputed by the central government for a period of five years minimum. The chief executive should have the prerogative to appoint a District Secretary on contractual basis for a period of five years with prior approval of the advisory council. The District Secretary would be the principal staff officer of the Chief Executive.

The District Secretary, who could either be a retired civil servant not below the rank and status of a Deputy Secretary to the central government or a suitably qualified and respected local person, shall function under the direct supervision and control of the President/Chairman as the case may be. But it must be ensured that the Chief Executive and all the officials remain answerable to the advisory council and also that the central government, under no circumstance shall transfer any official of the district administration without prior consent of the district authority. It should also be ensured that the central government should consider promotion of such officials strictly on the basis of annual confidential reports put forward by the President/Chairman of the district council. The central government should place necessary budgetary allocation annually to the district authority immediately after the passage of the national budget every fiscal year.

So far as the reform in the central government administration is concerned, it is imperative that the existing bureaucracy be significantly downsized in order to ensure speed and efficiency. Its hierarchy should be brought down to four tiers Assistant Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary and Secretary. And support staff strength should be drastically curtailed keeping only a few administrative assistants.

Number of ministries must be scaled down to bare minimum through merger of allied ministries and divisions. For example commerce and industries ministry could be brought under the same roof and renamed as the ministry of trade and investment; rail, road and water transportation could be under the same roof as the ministry of communication. The existing staffing patterns in various agencies and departments under each ministry should be reviewed in order to shed unnecessary staffs.

In order to ensure speedy decision making and transparency e-governance should be introduced without any further delay. Possibilities of outsourcing some of the services in various ministries and departments should be looked into seriously in order to improve efficiency. Expert professionals from outside the government could be appointed as advisers in various ministries by the incumbent governments for the period of their incumbency to help ensure appropriate decision-making. The rank and status of such advisers should be above the Secretary to the government. This system of hiring is in practice in most of the developed countries.

Public Service Commission should be constituted with persons having no political bias keeping in mind their educational background, standing in the society, integrity and honesty. Recruitment and promotion of all government officials should be based on recommendation of the public service commission.

Last but not the least, it must be ensured that compensation packages of different grades of government officials are attractive and commensurate with their social standing. Unless this is ensured, it will be impossible to attract persons with good academic records to the civil service and to reduce corruption.

Jahangir Bin Alam is former Secretary, Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry.