Foreign trips for bureaucrats
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
GOVERNMENT functionaries are undertaking frequent trips abroad. This fondness for travel among government officials is known to all. There has always been a flurry of foreign travel on the part of both the advisers of the present government and the senior civil servants. As the advisers have the responsibility of looking after two or more ministries each, such trips have a telling effect on the government's decision-making.
Precepts alone are unimportant if they are not lived up to. It reflects a culture to look for opportunities to go abroad even if it is not so relevant for a functionary. We know technical trainings are attended by bureaucrats while the technical persons are not sent for such trainings. A deputy secretary, after taking a training abroad on livestock management is now serving the establishment division. This causes embarrassment for the country's diplomatic missions abroad, especially in the western capitals, because they are forced to provide protocol and other support to these visitors from home.
We heard that the government is planning to limit foreign trips of officials. Foreign travel for government functionaries must be relevant. Otherwise, it should be restricted. It cannot be ignored that these trips, unnecessary as they are, slacken the administration and put unnecessary financial burdens on the government coffers.
Ahmed Shafiq
Dhanmandi R/A, Dhaka
Precepts alone are unimportant if they are not lived up to. It reflects a culture to look for opportunities to go abroad even if it is not so relevant for a functionary. We know technical trainings are attended by bureaucrats while the technical persons are not sent for such trainings. A deputy secretary, after taking a training abroad on livestock management is now serving the establishment division. This causes embarrassment for the country's diplomatic missions abroad, especially in the western capitals, because they are forced to provide protocol and other support to these visitors from home.
We heard that the government is planning to limit foreign trips of officials. Foreign travel for government functionaries must be relevant. Otherwise, it should be restricted. It cannot be ignored that these trips, unnecessary as they are, slacken the administration and put unnecessary financial burdens on the government coffers.
Ahmed Shafiq
Dhanmandi R/A, Dhaka