REPORTS appeared in the press sometime ago that donors want a 'senior service pool' in the civil services of Bangladesh with its members drawn from the existing cadres of the civil services and also from the private sector. This would improve the civil services and help in the appointment of specialist manpower from outside in the civil services to lend expertise and dynamism to the civil administration. The senior pool could be enthused by higher incentive salaries and perks in comparison to what are received now by civil servants of the corresponding levels. The donors are also in favour of other varied measures to lift up the qualitative performance of the civil services as a whole because they rightly see the relationship of the same with better governance for the implementation of various anti-poverty and developmental programmes with their aid resources.
But I believe that only such a step will not cure the civil administration of its various ills including notably its corruption and inefficiency. Civil servants in the country typically behave that they form a privileged group like the hereditary aristocracy. Most of them view their jobs as of a type they can carry on until their retirement time without suffering any penalty for their underperformance or corruption. The prevailing conditions call for nothing short of a system of firm accountability so that a civil servant of any rank feels that he or she must perform up to a desired level and failure to do so will invite the paying of penalties. At the same time, the good performances on their part must be promptly noted and rewarded with promotions and other measures to keep their motivation high.
Only such a well established mechanism to keep the civil servants on their toes can get the desired output from them -- quantitatively and qualitatively. It is likely to be more effective than any amount of moral exhortations for them to approach their work with honesty and sincerity.
The above framework will also need to apply to the contemplated senior service pool. Experience proves, specially in the Bangladesh context, that only the creation of material incentives are not enough to get the best out of individuals. Individuals in most cases do not or cannot take the initiative to improve themselves. However, if an effective system is in place to guard against their wrong doings and slothful mentality, then the same, more or less, delivers results in all situations.
Murad Reza
Dhanmondi
Dhaka
Making civil services accountable
FE Team | Published: September 15, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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