Clear and logical analysis
Friday, 6 May 2011
F R Chowdhury
In my days as a civil servant in Bangladesh, I learnt a lot about bureaucracy. One of the fundamentals was to create ones own empire. There was very little respect for other ministries, department or agencies. The general tendency was to grab everything within your own fold to create your own empire. I saw very little inter-ministerial or inter-departmental coordination. Many good and beneficial projects had pre-mature death under bureaucratic pressure. Another thing that I learnt about is: "Saday abogoti-o-parabarti nirdesher jonno pesh kara holo" meaning "Placed for kind information and necessary instruction". This way everyone would try to wriggle out of responsibility and let the file roam around for days together. In 1991, I resigned from my services in Bangladesh to join the British civil service as a marine surveyor in the department of transport. I landed up in a different world. I adapted myself to the new system and procedures and in the process learnt a lot about the concept of democracy and governance. In good governance there has to be sound legislation, efficient administration, documented procedures and good record-keeping. I will start from the point of legislation. The purpose of any primary legislation or principal act is to establish jurisdiction over the relevant matter and give powers to the government to regulate the same for its controlled but healthy and congenial growth. Penal provisions (including fines) are specified in the primary law whereas fees may be set and revised through rules regulations. The regulations for operation of independent (self-financing) or semi-autonomous bodies may allow for fees to be collected in a fund for the authority. In a primary act in Bangladesh, there would be evidently one section giving powers to the government to make rules. In the UK, it is different. They do not use the term government because they think the term is impersonal and vague. The responsibility cannot be identified. In a UK law, it will give the Secretary of State (the cabinet minister in charge of the ministry) powers to make necessary rules or regulations. The other important thing is that these regulations do not enter into force automatically. Instead, the regulations have to be placed in the bench of the parliament for 30 days and if no objections or questions are raised by the law-makers then it shall enter into force at the end of the 30-day period. If any questions are raised then the minister has to answer and defend. The purpose is not to involve them but also not to ignore or by-pass them. This is about legislation. There is a lot to be done about administration. The essence of democracy lies in the fact that the government is elected by the people. In the presidential system, the president is directly elected by the people and he forms the government. In the parliamentary system, the head of the State calls the leader of the majority party to form the government. Governments come and go. Civil servants remain in place. In Bangladesh, those in the Secretariat consider themselves as government. They are not. Civil servants are only part of the government machinery to execute its plans and programmes. The services of civil servants are automatically placed at the disposal of the government - whichever government is in power. Because the government runs the State, the civil servants are expected to provide loyal and faithful service to the government. In a grass root democracy, there is local government for various administrative units elected locally. The civil servants posted and stationed in those units are supposed to provide similar loyal and faithful service to the local government. A few days back, I read something very strange in a newspaper report. The Prime Minister reportedly said that the government would soon appoint District Chairmen. I was frightened, if the BAKSAL was about to return. We need local government but an elected one. The present deputy commissioner should act as the coordinator to the zilla parishad. Every ministry should be represented at district level - like district education officer, district health officer, district agricultural officer and so on. They should all maintain their link both with the ministry at the central level and with district administration at local level. This is how democracy should work at every level and this is how the civil service should interact with the government, both local and central. There are a number of national institutions, departments, agencies and authorities. The chief executives of all these organisations are supposed to report to the government -i.e. the respective ministries. For administrative convenience, they may address routine matters to the secretary, but all important matters such as any new concept, projects, and matters relating to policy, planning, approval etc. must be addressed directly to the government i.e. the relevant minister. Once the minister is aware of the matter, she may pass it on to the secretary with necessary instruction, who may then establish normal communication channel with the authority concerned to take forward the matter. I am writing this because I am aware of many embarrassing situations where the minister knew nothing about the development of the case and sometime he comes to know from others. The other important thing is delegation of functions and responsibilities. Each of those departments or authorities that we talked about is created with some given responsibilities. They are delegated powers. It is the duty of the minister (as part of the government) to ensure that those powers are exercised correctly. The minister can question the officer concerned and ask his explanations but what he cannot do is to give order or instruction as to how to do a certain thing. If the minister does that then it would be considered as misuse of his powers. There is a saying that too many cooks spoil the food. That is what is happening in Bangladesh. We have secretary, additional secretary, joint secretary, deputy secretary and assistant secretaries. This increases bureaucratic loopholes. We can simplify this. Let us have Administrative Assistants (AA) in place of peons and delivery men. The clerical staff should be re-designated as Administrative Officers (AO). The senior clerks should be re-designated as Executive Officers (EO). Then there should Assistant Secretaries (AS) and Deputy Secretaries (DS) eventually leading to the Secretary. There should be one secretary for each ministry and then each division or section may have a dedicated deputy secretary with a number of assistant secretaries (and other staff). Quality control is an essential ingredient in modern the management practice. Quality control cannot be achieved unless we have documented procedures and its compliance. The last phase is record-keeping. This is where information technology (IT) comes in. We should have systems for storage and retrieving of important data and information and precedence. There is no room for those who cannot operate these systems. At the very start of this article, I said something about empire building. We shall discuss this in brief. The ministry of shipping is meant to regulate ports and shipping matters. Ship-breaking or ship demolition or ship-scrapping is not a part of shipping activity. It is a shore-based industry. There is no reason for the ministry of shipping to be involved in it. The primary responsibility lies with the ministry of industry and like all other matters, the ministry of environment should look after the environmental aspect. Together they should formulate rules and regulations in line with the Hong Kong Convention and ensure that ship-breaking takes place in a sound and safe manner. This is an important industry for Bangladesh that keeps many other industries alive. Another example is the ship-building industry which is also a shore-based industry (and nothing to do with shipping). Thanks God, it is now sorted out. We must understand that any automobile industry will fall within the jurisdiction of the ministry of industries and not transport ministry though the manufactured vehicles will have to have test certificates from the ministry of transport. Similarly, when the country starts making or assembling aircrafts the industry will be regulated by the ministry of industries though the aircraft will eventually require certificate from the aviation ministry. These are clear and logical analysis. However, MLC-2006, though an ILO Convention, it should be administered by the ministry of shipping because it will involve survey (part of PSC inspection) of ships that marine surveyors can do. I shall conclude my article with a request to the government to consider special fund for financing the ship-building industry because the present high rate of interest is detrimental to its growth. Ship-building is a highly competitive international business. It has a bright future. I congratulate our entrepreneurs and request the government for necessary support. The writer is a Maritime Adviser based in Bahrain. He can be reached at e-mail: fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com
In my days as a civil servant in Bangladesh, I learnt a lot about bureaucracy. One of the fundamentals was to create ones own empire. There was very little respect for other ministries, department or agencies. The general tendency was to grab everything within your own fold to create your own empire. I saw very little inter-ministerial or inter-departmental coordination. Many good and beneficial projects had pre-mature death under bureaucratic pressure. Another thing that I learnt about is: "Saday abogoti-o-parabarti nirdesher jonno pesh kara holo" meaning "Placed for kind information and necessary instruction". This way everyone would try to wriggle out of responsibility and let the file roam around for days together. In 1991, I resigned from my services in Bangladesh to join the British civil service as a marine surveyor in the department of transport. I landed up in a different world. I adapted myself to the new system and procedures and in the process learnt a lot about the concept of democracy and governance. In good governance there has to be sound legislation, efficient administration, documented procedures and good record-keeping. I will start from the point of legislation. The purpose of any primary legislation or principal act is to establish jurisdiction over the relevant matter and give powers to the government to regulate the same for its controlled but healthy and congenial growth. Penal provisions (including fines) are specified in the primary law whereas fees may be set and revised through rules regulations. The regulations for operation of independent (self-financing) or semi-autonomous bodies may allow for fees to be collected in a fund for the authority. In a primary act in Bangladesh, there would be evidently one section giving powers to the government to make rules. In the UK, it is different. They do not use the term government because they think the term is impersonal and vague. The responsibility cannot be identified. In a UK law, it will give the Secretary of State (the cabinet minister in charge of the ministry) powers to make necessary rules or regulations. The other important thing is that these regulations do not enter into force automatically. Instead, the regulations have to be placed in the bench of the parliament for 30 days and if no objections or questions are raised by the law-makers then it shall enter into force at the end of the 30-day period. If any questions are raised then the minister has to answer and defend. The purpose is not to involve them but also not to ignore or by-pass them. This is about legislation. There is a lot to be done about administration. The essence of democracy lies in the fact that the government is elected by the people. In the presidential system, the president is directly elected by the people and he forms the government. In the parliamentary system, the head of the State calls the leader of the majority party to form the government. Governments come and go. Civil servants remain in place. In Bangladesh, those in the Secretariat consider themselves as government. They are not. Civil servants are only part of the government machinery to execute its plans and programmes. The services of civil servants are automatically placed at the disposal of the government - whichever government is in power. Because the government runs the State, the civil servants are expected to provide loyal and faithful service to the government. In a grass root democracy, there is local government for various administrative units elected locally. The civil servants posted and stationed in those units are supposed to provide similar loyal and faithful service to the local government. A few days back, I read something very strange in a newspaper report. The Prime Minister reportedly said that the government would soon appoint District Chairmen. I was frightened, if the BAKSAL was about to return. We need local government but an elected one. The present deputy commissioner should act as the coordinator to the zilla parishad. Every ministry should be represented at district level - like district education officer, district health officer, district agricultural officer and so on. They should all maintain their link both with the ministry at the central level and with district administration at local level. This is how democracy should work at every level and this is how the civil service should interact with the government, both local and central. There are a number of national institutions, departments, agencies and authorities. The chief executives of all these organisations are supposed to report to the government -i.e. the respective ministries. For administrative convenience, they may address routine matters to the secretary, but all important matters such as any new concept, projects, and matters relating to policy, planning, approval etc. must be addressed directly to the government i.e. the relevant minister. Once the minister is aware of the matter, she may pass it on to the secretary with necessary instruction, who may then establish normal communication channel with the authority concerned to take forward the matter. I am writing this because I am aware of many embarrassing situations where the minister knew nothing about the development of the case and sometime he comes to know from others. The other important thing is delegation of functions and responsibilities. Each of those departments or authorities that we talked about is created with some given responsibilities. They are delegated powers. It is the duty of the minister (as part of the government) to ensure that those powers are exercised correctly. The minister can question the officer concerned and ask his explanations but what he cannot do is to give order or instruction as to how to do a certain thing. If the minister does that then it would be considered as misuse of his powers. There is a saying that too many cooks spoil the food. That is what is happening in Bangladesh. We have secretary, additional secretary, joint secretary, deputy secretary and assistant secretaries. This increases bureaucratic loopholes. We can simplify this. Let us have Administrative Assistants (AA) in place of peons and delivery men. The clerical staff should be re-designated as Administrative Officers (AO). The senior clerks should be re-designated as Executive Officers (EO). Then there should Assistant Secretaries (AS) and Deputy Secretaries (DS) eventually leading to the Secretary. There should be one secretary for each ministry and then each division or section may have a dedicated deputy secretary with a number of assistant secretaries (and other staff). Quality control is an essential ingredient in modern the management practice. Quality control cannot be achieved unless we have documented procedures and its compliance. The last phase is record-keeping. This is where information technology (IT) comes in. We should have systems for storage and retrieving of important data and information and precedence. There is no room for those who cannot operate these systems. At the very start of this article, I said something about empire building. We shall discuss this in brief. The ministry of shipping is meant to regulate ports and shipping matters. Ship-breaking or ship demolition or ship-scrapping is not a part of shipping activity. It is a shore-based industry. There is no reason for the ministry of shipping to be involved in it. The primary responsibility lies with the ministry of industry and like all other matters, the ministry of environment should look after the environmental aspect. Together they should formulate rules and regulations in line with the Hong Kong Convention and ensure that ship-breaking takes place in a sound and safe manner. This is an important industry for Bangladesh that keeps many other industries alive. Another example is the ship-building industry which is also a shore-based industry (and nothing to do with shipping). Thanks God, it is now sorted out. We must understand that any automobile industry will fall within the jurisdiction of the ministry of industries and not transport ministry though the manufactured vehicles will have to have test certificates from the ministry of transport. Similarly, when the country starts making or assembling aircrafts the industry will be regulated by the ministry of industries though the aircraft will eventually require certificate from the aviation ministry. These are clear and logical analysis. However, MLC-2006, though an ILO Convention, it should be administered by the ministry of shipping because it will involve survey (part of PSC inspection) of ships that marine surveyors can do. I shall conclude my article with a request to the government to consider special fund for financing the ship-building industry because the present high rate of interest is detrimental to its growth. Ship-building is a highly competitive international business. It has a bright future. I congratulate our entrepreneurs and request the government for necessary support. The writer is a Maritime Adviser based in Bahrain. He can be reached at e-mail: fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com