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Admin loses its trail to reforms

Continues to get overcrowded as politics calls the shot

M Abul Kalam Azad
The Awami League-led government gave bureaucrats wholesale benefits to please them over the last five years, but did little to fulfil its pledge to make the civil administration efficient, accountable and transparent.
Around 2,600 officials were promoted since 2009, and that was done not on the basis of merit and performance, but on political consideration, lobbying and pressure from different quarters, said officials at the secretariat.
According to the public administration ministry, there are currently 1,316 deputy secretaries against 830 posts, 928 joint secretaries against 250 posts and 334 additional secretaries against 120 posts. Besides, three secretaries have been kept as officers on special duty.
And yet, 85 joint secretaries were promoted to the rank of additional secretary; a day after the new government took office on Sunday, making the civil administration top-heavy.
Such practices have encouraged bureaucrats to indulge in politics and stay loyal to party men to secure lucrative positions, whereas they ought to implement government policies and programmes being free from political influence and interference, said the officials.
"Excessive promotions have damaged the ideal pyramid structure of the administration and made it top-heavy. The number of officials is three to four times the posts mentioned in the organogram," said a senior bureaucrat, asking not to be named.
The government failed to keep its promise to bring about reforms and enact laws to make the administration merit-based and service-oriented, said the official.
The draft of the Public Servants Bill, 2012, still rests with the Prime Minister's Office for the PM's approval.
Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said one of government's major policy decisions was to bring reforms in the civil administration.
"We have to mobilise support within the government and the civil bureaucracy for bringing about effective and sustainable reforms ... The reform move has not been abandoned, but slowed down."
The cabinet secretary said promotions had been given mostly on the basis of reputation, efficiency and integrity of an official.
He also claimed bureaucrats have become more pro-people and service-oriented.
Of around 1.3 million government employees in the country, more than half are class-Ill and IV employees, and the rest are first and second class officers.
Government moves such as renaming the establishment ministry as public administration ministry, and extending public servants' retirement age from 57 to 59 years and that of freedom fighters to 60 years, and the new pay scale for bureaucrats had very little to do with the envisioned reforms.
Following strong lobbying, the government promoted five secretaries to senior secretaries. It only benefited the officials but did little to bring qualitative changes in their service.
Many efficient bureaucrats, who hoped to see reforms in the administration, feel very disappointed now.
The Daily Star talked to a number of senior and mid-level bureaucrats to understand why the government shifted away from its reform move.
They said a significant number of bureaucrats opposed the move, fearing it would make their jobs difficult.
As the government didn't want to go against their will, it shelved the proposed public servants law that intends to regulate the bureaucracy -- from recruitment to promotion, posting and transfer based on merit and performance.
The law suggests that examinations should be made mandatory for officials to judge their merit before they are promoted.
Another strong reason, bureaucrats iden-
tified, was the inclusion of a provision for outsourcing government employees' work to the private sector.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which initiated a reform process in 2008, had suggested abolishing class-Ill and IV levels of employees, and outsourcing their work to reduce the cost of running the administration.
The reform initiative calls for introducing a system for evaluating an employee's efficiency on the basis of merit, seniority and performance, instead of annual confidential report for his promotion and posting.
As part of the initiative, a number of seminars were held in the last five years and some bureaucrats toured several countries to see how bureaucracy functions there.
Over the last five years, the AL-led government made many laws, but not the one that could bring a constructive change in the administration.
In his last budget speech, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said they had set goals of bringing administrative reforms but couldn't make much progress.
Yet, in its manifesto before the January 5 polls, the ruling AL claimed it had taken many steps to bring reforms in the administration for making it non-partisan and pro-people.