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Civil Service

Reform initiative runs out of steam

Officials say govt reluctant to go ahead with draft law for fear of losing partisan influence on bureaucracy

M Abul Kalam Azad
The government's move to modernise the civil service through reforms has been stalled as the ruling party feels that a reform will slash its political interference, said many civil service officials.
A section of the bureaucrats also feel that a reform will make their jobs harder.
When the Awami League-led government assumed power in 2009, it initiated a process of reforming the civil service. It prepared a draft Civil Service Act in May last year, and took an initiative to replace the annual confidential report (ACR) with a performance-based evaluation mechanism for promotions and postings of officials.
The steps were initiated to depoliticise the civil administration, make the bureaucrats accountable to the people, and reduce abuse of power.
But the initiatives never took concrete shapes and the government now says it will seek more opinions from different cadre services and other stakeholders to make the proposed act acceptable to all.
"This is just a trick to waste time as the government has taken lots of opinions
from the cadre services and other stakeholders in the last two years," said a midranking official on condition of anonymity.
He said the draft Civil Service Act was finalised and sent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in December last year, but she sent it back asking the public administration ministry to seek more opinions.
"The government couldn't finalise a draft law in three years, it is highly unlikely that it will be able to do so within the remaining less than two years of its tenure. So, the planned reform is still a distant reality for us," added the official.
A top government official said, "The partisan government has become uncertain whether, after promulgating the act, the bureaucrats can be controlled the way they are now being controlled by it. On the other hand, there are many bureaucrats who are not confident that they will get promotions and favourable postings under the new system as easily as they do now."
But HT Imam, public administration affairs adviser to the prime minister said, "We have made good progress in formulating the civil service law. It is being delayed as we want to incorporate suggestions of some more professionals."
He said the law will be enacted within the tenure of the incumbent government to begin the reform.
The Daily Star in the last one month talked to a number of officials, and the majority of them said they want a reform where only performance and merit, not political favouritism, will be the basis for promotions and postings.
"There are some officers who are least bothered about performing, but get benefits through lobbying with their seniors and political gurus. This section is opposing the reform idea," saidadeputysecretary of the cabinet division.
Former cabinet secretary Akbar Ali Khan said he was not aware of any reform initiative. "No significant move has been initiated in reforming the civil administration," he said.
About the proposed act, Akbar, also a former adviser to a caretaker government, said, "We don't know what types of reform proposals are there. I think this is just a ritual."
Explaining the cause of delay. Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said, "Any reform is challenging and has a far-reaching impact. We have to ensure that the reform benefits all. Also the reform initiative has to be practical."
As part of its reform initiatives, the government extended the service age of the civil servants by two years, changed the name of the establishment ministry, created eight senior secretary posts, and authorised the divisional commissioners to transfer upazila nirbahi officers (UNO). None of these steps, however, measures up to any
qualitative reform, said an official of the public administration ministry.
Under successive regimes the civil administration has been run by some senior bureaucrats closely associated with influential figures of ruling parties. Thus, political and personal favouritism, not performance and merit, has been the primary consideration for promotions and postings, observed many officials in Bangladesh Secretariat.
There has also been no significant progress in replacing the controversial ACR system with a performance-based system to evaluate the civil servants.
An ACR of an officer is written by his or her immediate superior. A good ACR helps one to get promotion easily.
Many officials said this system should be changed because officers are quite often too busy to please their superiors for good ACRs. The superiors can easily victimise their subordinates by misusing the system, they added.
"A performance-based evaluation system will not only stop the malpractice, but also establish a fair mechanism in this regard," said a senior assistant secretary of the communications ministry.
He said the AL-led government reinstated and promoted some officers in the service who had been sent to forced retirement by the immediate past BNP-Jamaat government.
"The same way the officers who had been in the good book of the BNP-Jamaat government and got promotions easily are now in trouble. Many of them are not getting promotions while some were sent to forced retirement," he added.
According to the draft law, no civil servant can be
forced into retirement as punishment without adequate departmental proceedings including an opportunity for self-defence. It also stipulates that civil servants, for the sake of neutrality, will not do any person, group or political party any favour, and will not cause any disparity in services delivered to the public.
Currently the Superior Selection Board, a sevenmember body headed by the cabinet secretary, evaluates the officials' performance based on ACRs and their educational qualifications to recommend promotions.
Officials involved in the reform initiative said the draft law proposes holding of examinations for promotions at all levels of the civil administration. It outlines a three-tier civil administration — superior, senior, and junior.
A section of senior officials however strongly oppose the idea of exams. Some of them said the exams will be misused. They argued that officers seeking promotions will remain too busy preparing themselves for the exams, adversely affecting their routine work.
But many others ruled out that argument. "Inefficient officers are opposing the idea of exams fearing that they will not pass, and their scope for getting promotions will be shut down," said a joint secretary of the public administration ministry.
HT Imam said all officials have to take exams for promotions once the proposed law is enacted.
According to the proposed law, if an official fails in exams three times in a row for a promotion, he or she will be able to retire voluntarily, and if he or she fails for the fourth time the government will force that official to retire.