Instilling confidence

Jonathan Evans/gettyimages

WHILE addressing the inaugural session of the 17th biennial conference of Bangladesh Economic Association at Osmani Memorial auditorium in Dhaka city on April 8, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that her government was still trying to bring back confidence among the public servants that had been lost during immediate past army-backed caretaker regime, and added that hectic day and night labour of her government could not bring any good for the people just for lack of confidence among the public servants.
She alleged that the caretaker government was engaged in absurd works in the name of eradicating corruption. The stalemate, fear and panic created by the last caretaker government still persisted, she said, adding that her government would remove those obstacles in the near future.
A public officer is a twenty-four hour servant of the republic. Till the mid-eighties, the defunct Bureau of Anti-corruption (BAC) had to have clearance from a high-powered committee headed by the cabinet secretary for formally instituting a case against a Class I officer.
In the nineties, the government issued a circular, which said that clearance from the Prime Minister's Office would be required for instituting cases against mid-level and senior officers by the BAC. With the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in late 2004, this requirement was done away with.
More importantly, there are disciplinary and appeal rules for drawing proceedings against public servants for offences like inefficiency, desertion, misconduct and corruption. If an accused is found guilty after proper inquiry, the authority may impose on him a penalty that ranges between censure and dismissal from service. Hundreds of officials have been punished under these rules. If deemed necessary, the authority may also refer a case to the anti-corruption watchdog for investigation and follow up action.
During the period of the last caretaker government, the ACC instituted cases against scores of public servants on various charges of corruption and irregularities. Many of them, including secretaries to the government, were put behind bars. This created panic among the public servants, particularly among the senior bureaucrats, which led to loss of initiative and dynamism in their official work.
A two-time chief executive of the government, Sheikh Hasina could realise the gravity of the situation after coming to power in January 2009. She has more than once asked the senior bureaucrats to work sincerely without any fear, and assured them protection. This is because of the fact that she is well aware of the important role of the public servants for the success of the government.
They execute policies embodied in existing legislation, formulate new policies to meet the requirement of time and place them for approval of the government, develop development programs and execute them after approval of the appropriate authority, manage international relations, carry on research on commercial and economic policies, manage law and order and perform all other functions relating to day-to-day administration of the government.
Instilling confidence among the public servants, particularly among the mid-level and senior bureaucrats, will require a number of measures. It is known that the committee constituted by the government for amending the ACC law has made a recommendation for reintroducing the system of prior approval of the government for taking up cases of corruption against government officials. The main logic apparently behind this proposal is a slow-down in the administration for fear of being harassed by getting implicated in corruption cases.
But, civil society members and the media have criticised this move. They argue that the reconstitution of the ACC by the post 1/11 caretaker government and amendments made to the Act-2004 provided the ACC some degree of dynamism and vibrancy, aiming at making corruption a punishable offence and challenging the culture of impunity. We must find a way to ensure that officials "working in good faith" do not suffer, and corrupt officials do not escape punishment.
Second, under the defunct Rules of Business (ROB)-1975, the minister-in-charge of a ministry was responsible for policy matters concerning his ministry, and implementation thereof. The secretary was the official head of the ministry/division. The ROB-1996 formulated by the then-AL government added that "all business allocated to a ministry/ division under Schedule I of these rules shall be disposed of by, or under the general or special directions of the minister-in-charge." The status of the secretary as the official head was abolished.
The above addition and amendment means that hardly any case can be disposed of at the level of the secretary of the ministry/division, not to speak of a level below him. The authority that the secretaries of ministries/divisions enjoyed prior to 1996 has to be restored to the maximum extent possible in the interest of bringing back their confidence and expediting disposal of work.
Third, the Public Servants (Retirement) Act-1974 empowers the government to retire a public servant without assigning any reason on his/her completion of 25 years of service. This act hangs like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of the mid-level and senior public servants. During the past 35 years or so, hundreds of mid-level and senior public servants had fallen victim to this Act. The repeal of the act will help instill confidence and neutrality in the senior public servants.
Last but not the least, politicisation of bureaucracy since the return to parliamentary democracy in 1991 has been a distinguishing feature of the administration. Both BNP and AL, which ruled the country almost in succession in the past 19 years, found politicisation of administration to their advantage. The division of the bureaucrats along party lines has adversely affected the neutrality in the administration. Good governance has become the victim.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is fully aware of these issues. It is expected that her government will pay due attention to them in order to bring dynamism in the administration and establish good governance.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary. E-mail: [email protected].