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Beware of bureaucracy!

Md. Anwarul Kabir
AFTER a two-year suspension, a new phase of democracy has started in Bangladesh, with new hopes and pledges. The electoral slogan of the AL, "a charter for change," has encouraged the common people. Now it is the responsibility of the pledge-bound government to deliver accordingly. However, without proper performance of the bureaucrats, the government will fail to achieve the goal.
The people are eager to see the course of the promised digital Bangladesh, or e-Governance, as proper implementation will bring the much-awaited good governance. For this, the government must take an initiative to align the bureaucracy towards e-Governance. e-Governance speeds up the government's delivery system by eliminating red-tapism. It also ensures social equity by reducing corruption and increasing
transparency. So, it can be expected that many corrupt bureaucrats will try to resist proper implementation of e-Governance.
No doubt, corruption is the most detrimental factor that hinders our national development.Though corrupt politicians put the country at stake, their partners are bureaucrats. At the state level, no government can get involved in corruption without the help of the bureaucrats. In the past, the nation saw that although some politicians were tried and punished for their involvement in corruption, their counterparts in the bureaucracy, in most cases, escaped.
To reduce state level corruption, an efficient and effective ACC is a must. It must have the authority to bring corrupt government officials to trial. Fortunately, the ACC Act 2004 has provided it with the power to file corruption cases and issue arrest warrants against corrupt officials. However, some of the top bureaucrats are now trying to take away this power of the ACC.
In this context, the cabinet secretary said: "Some of the secretaries have discussed the issue and recommended amending the existing law to curtail the ACC's such power." What audacity! In fact, for establishing good governance, nobody should be immunised by law, especially if it is a case of corruption. Hopefully, the honourable PM will not step into the trap of the bureaucrats.
One of the major problems in bureaucracy is cultural, as it has failed to sever its British colonial legacy. Like the then British Indian bureaucrats, our bureaucrats too assume that they are the masters, not the servants, of the citizens. In fact, the British introduced bureaucracy in the then British India with a view to exploiting people, so they gave enormous power to bureaucrats to rule the country on their behalf.
With regard to bureaucracy at that time, the British followed a double standard. For their home country, they installed a relatively people-friendly bureaucracy, whereas for their colonics they created oppressive bureaucracies for obvious reasons. However, in this context, we must salute the PM as she is concerned about this and has warned the bureaucrats. She said: "Keep in mind that you are the servants of the people,
not their masters."
In dealing with bureaucracy, the government is in a dilemma due to the bureaucracy's inclination towards the parties that ran the immediate past political government. For the smooth running of the government the bureaucracy must be depoliticised. To resolve this problem the government should take pragmatic steps. Just making some politicised bureaucrats OSDs will not work, rather it will be a waste of public money. The best policy should be to engage and motivate them to work for the nation building endeavours of the government under the close supervision of the concerned ministers.
Many of the bureaucrats are like chameleons, capable of changing colours and camouflaging themselves. Now, as AL is in the power, they seem to be more Awami Leaguer than even a veteran Awami Leaguer. The government has to be aware of that. The government does not need any politicised bureaucrats, rather it requires effective and efficient bureaucrats who objectively execute the government's policies.
To get the desired output, the ministers must maintain supremacy over the bureaucrats in their ministries. Unfortunately, in the past, most ministers became easy prey of the corrupt bureau-crats. However, if a minister is honest, sincere, patriotic and prudent then, even on part of the most corrupt and cunning bureaucrats, it becomes impossible to be derailed.
In this context, Maria Chowdhury who ran the ministry of agriculture during 1996-2001 AL regime can be cited as a role model. During that regime, Maria was an exception and ran her ministry efficiently, keeping supremacy over the bureaucrats by dint of her personal integrity, honesty,
and commitment to the people.
Ideally, for rendering good governance, a minister should be the key policy maker of his/her ministry and the bureaucrats should act as mere executors of the policy. It is encouraging that all the ministers are now under surveillance of the PM. It will be appreciated if she emphasises on the issues discussed in appraising the individual performance of the cabinet members.
Md Anwarul Kabir is a contributor to The Daily Star.
Email: kabiranwar@yahoo com.