We were discussing about organising an annual event of our national society of trainers. At one stage the discussion was focused on selecting the special guest for the function. Names of probable guests were being proposed one by one. Members frowned as the name of a senior government official was proposed. Some members opposed the proposal by insinuation. In order to ease the situation I wanted to know in a light vein the rationale of such opposition. I contended that many officers of his seniority were invited as special guests in our earlier functions. This officer's high position should make him eligible for invitation as a special guest. Now a lady member articulated her voice succinctly: "Sir, in this country so many people have been catapulted to high positions without any justification whatsoever. Incumbency in most cases does not reflect the quality or acceptability of the person in position." She perhaps wanted to add that it would be frustrating to have known how these persons have made their way to high positions.
The comment of the lady member sounded abrasive for a moment. Its momentum continued. It sensitised me about a serious problem that pervaded all spheres of our national life. Having made a mental review of the credentials and background of persons holding high positions irrespective of their mode of recruitment either through elections, selection by search committees or personal choice of the appointing authority it appeared to me that the comment of the lady member tended to be rather appropriate. In this country the qualifications for appointment to high positions are brain-dead partisanship, sycophancy, personal loyalty and repeated personal representation. Very limited few, perhaps not more than 10-15 per cent incumbents have climbed to the top by dint of their distinct qualifications. Posts traditionally filled up by highly competent persons identified through time-honoured selection procedure have gone to party men, friends and relatives of powerful individuals or groups. Such phenomena pose a serious threat to the country and its citizens.
I have observed that persons in high position often act and speak in such a way that renders them laughing stock to people in general, all and sundry. Enlightened citizens wondered as to how persons perched in high firmament could resort to such lowly antics. More discerning ones are suspicious about the procedures used for selecting these high-ups. If one critically examines the stance and speech, the gumption and mental alertness, the educational and cultural background, the antecedent and expertise of these persons it will be evident that they are not at all suitable for the positions they are occupying.
Placing inappropriate persons to high position destroys the normal working system of the organisation. Various types of distortion creep into the system. At times the organisation stands criminalised. Gradually the organisation becomes totally dysfunctional. Since the functionaries at the higher echelons are utterly incompetent for their jobs, they endeavour to cover up their shortcomings through crooked manipulations such as introducing maliciously irrelevant contents in their job. Ultimately the incumbent allows his organisation to be used by the ruling oligarchy as an instrument for realiasing their vested interest. His twin objectives are to continue in the job as long as possible and to line up another job or gainful contract at the end of the present tenure. In order to curry favour with people in power these sub-standard incumbents resort to highly irregular, unfair and unethical moves that result in irreparable damage to common citizens. At times some of the families are completely undone. Unfortunately such predicament does not cause a minor flick in the sensitivity of these selfish high-ups. These corrupt people thus thrive at the cost of the country and its citizens. They are up to using new machinations to augment their power and resources.
The instruments used by the substandard people to clinch high positions are usually corruption, illegal means, deceit and unholy grouping. High positions are usually filled up through election, competitive examination, promotion, selection by search committees or by the discretionary decision of the (one person) appointing authority. The sub-standard species will proceed to break or bend the system by applying partisan moves, cringing personal representation, fawning and sycophancy that work well in this regard. The sub-standard incumbents have a mitigated ethical standard. They can approach any person, go anywhere and to any length for their self-interest, but will not make any attempt to acquire knowledge, upgrade skill or to develop a more enlightened vision. If election is the prescribed means of recruitment they will resort to rigging and manipulation to win the election. They will plead with the top leaders of the party in the most ungainly manner, if necessary by cringing and prostrating before them to ensure that they are nominated by the party.
If the appointment depends on the discretionary choice of one person only they will use all their resources, mostly lowly fawning and other unethical means to tilt the choice in their favour. They carefully observe the dash of unethical traits in the predilection of the appointing authority and cash on that trend to get the advantage they want. Machinations mentioned above are useful in this case also. In fact the appointing authority, whether individual or group, formally or informally makes a list of loyal individuals who will be granted suitable benefits either in terms of high positions or some other means. Top entries get the first call and the process follows. Their qualifications for the jobs are not seriously considered. The most important thing is that the loyal people must be helped.
If the selection is through a search committee the mechanism is set on by sub-standard candidates to influence committee's decision. This is usually done through top brass of the ruling party and the administrative ministry. The administrative ministry provides secretarial assistance to the search committee. This permits the secretary and the joint secretary of the ministry to cultivate a semi-formal relation with the members and the chairman of the selection committee. Discreetly they inform the committee about the stand of the government about the selection of the candidates. The search committees do not strictly follow the grammar for search and selection. They are more interested to oblige the government, keep them in good humour. Ultimately they select the preferred person of the government for the job. Had the committee followed the grammar, each member would be allowed to submit a list of his recommended names in a sealed envelop to the chairman. The chairman could also include his list submitted in the similar manner. A detailed discussion, most probably a prolonged one, would ensue. The discussion will include all relevant variables to make the selection flawless. Identification of the variables is therefore very important; the committee should deliberate on them dispassionately and with rigour. Final list will be the product of this exercise. Such an exercise would preclude the inclusion of any sub-standard person in the list.
A selection based on a comprehensive written and viva voce examination is also apt to winnow out sub-standard candidates who habitually try to compromise the system. They fail most of the time though infrequent minor successes cannot be ruled out. The inferior lots have their sway in case of filling the posts by promotion. They apply all means of crooked manipulation like unethical personal representation, group pressure through batch mates, approaching the ministers and political leaders, whipping a political issue in their favour and managing to exclude the seniors by giving them a bad name. They thus pave their way to promotion in the most unfair manner.
Since independence Bangladesh has experienced various types of government: parliamentary form of democratic government, presidential form of democratic government, one-party presidential form of government under constitutional framework, presidential form of autocratic government supported by parliament, a military government based on martial law, a consensus interim government based on people power, a caretaker government within the framework of constitution, a military-backed interim government and a leaderless bureaucratic government by default. None of the government tried to fill up the high positions through a carefully designed selection process that would draw from the recommendation of a high-powered selection committee comprising well-reputed persons of unquestioned integrity and determined to go strictly by the grammar. Neither were they ready to select the candidates though a failsafe election process or competitive examination system. The apex appointing authorities decided, instead, to place their own men, friends, relatives and acquaintances in the top positions. In a few cases they relied on hearsay information or media reports. This is far away from the ideal procedure which demands that a person preliminary selected for the job should be subject to thorough antecedent verification. That will include, among others, relevant information about his parents as well. If all these steps are followed sincerely the selected person will effectively match the responsibility devolved on him. He will bring good name for his organisation and the government that he is meant to serve The country will benefit from the flourishing of knowledge, science and technology, management resource, efficiency, honesty and integrity.
The appointing authority or persons who matter with respect to appointment are averse to time-consuming rigorous exercise for verifying in detail the credentials and antecedents of the probable incumbents. They do not intend to invest hefty time on this task. Their management philosophy is that any person is good enough to perform every task. Chair will make a man fit for the job. Most of the high positions have been filled up this way since liberation of the country. As a result, legions of incompetent people have crowded the top positions in all sectors of the country such that the country's management structure has virtually collapsed wretchedly. "Null merit administration"' has become an oft-quoted epithet. The educated and enlightened section of people expects that the crisis will be over sometime, but they are not optimistic about the denouement in the near future. Once in power none of us is ready to carry out the required exercise to find out suitable persons for high positions sacrificing the pleasure of using our discretionary power. We are, therefore, booked for a sub-standard management structure for a foreseeable future.
Dr. Saadat Husain is a former Chairman of Public Service Commission. saadathusain@yahoo.com
© 2026 - All Rights with The Financial Express
