Reports on govt projects frequently fabricated
The reports highlighting the progress of various government projects by furnishing numbers are often misleading as they are usually cooked up to serve unethical purposes, said Dr Saadat Husain, former cabinet secretary and also former chairman of Public Service Commission, yesterday.
In his keynote speech at a seminar, the bureaucrat said figures provided in some annual performance agreements signed between the cabinet secretary and secretaries concerned, that he saw through, might not reflect the reality.
Instead they camouflage the actual situation, he said.
The Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) in association with the World Bank Group organised the seminar on the "Government Performance Management System (GPMS)" at a hotel in the capital.
The numbers provided in performance agreements do not lead to any meaningful conclusion, Saadat said.
The figures fail to forecast the sky-rocketing price of consumer goods and the anarchy in Hajj flights, he said, adding that they utterly misrepresent the cruelties and killings in the society, the colossal losses in state-owned enterprises including Bangladesh Railway and Biman.
Objectives of the GPMS are to help achieve vision 2021, enhance efficiency and accountability of government organisations and expedite implementation of the declared development programmes, said M Mahiuddin Khan, an additional secretary to the cabinet division.
Approved by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in January, the GPMS would help ministries remain aware of their development goals and help the prime minister to have an idea of achievement, said Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, addressing the seminar as the chief guest, said government employees have to remain loyal to their lawful duties instead of yielding to the lobbying culture and unlawful requests of the ministers, to strengthen democracy.
Ekram Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission; Martuza Ahmed, secretary to the information ministry; and Information Commissioner Prof Khurshida Begum Sayeed, among others, addressed the seminar, which was moderated by BIGD Executive Director Dr Sultan Hafeez Rahman.
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