Editorial
PM sends out right message to ministers and officials
Let the result be good governance
WE congratulate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on tasking ministers and senior civil servants with certain well-defined goals to be achieved by her government in her address at the secretariat on Sunday. Her call to them to keep out of corruption and her emphasis on their first six months of performance may be regarded as a trendsetter and should go down well with the nation. We are happy that she has taken up the war against corruption as a foremost priority and regards performance as the yardstick of the ministers' continuity on the job.
Sheikh Hasina's emphasis on the civil service remaining non-partisan in its functions is significant. Over the years, the bureaucracy in Bangladesh has systematically grown politicised, with the obvious result that administration has been unable to remain fair, impartial and benevolent. However, while we appreciate the prime minister's views on the matter, we also must point out that government officials, at least most of them, have never on their own or deliberately been partisan in carrying out their responsibilities. For far too long they have generally succumbed to the many pressures exerted on them by the ruling party at different points of time. It should therefore be the responsibility of the head of government to ensure that from now on the old mistakes are not repeated and that the line between the ruling party and the government does not get blurred
Sheikh Hasina has given out a clear and unambiguous message: ministers must perform or be ready to be shown the door. In this connection, we might add that a tradition has grown where ministers look up to the prime minister even on matters that ought to be within their power to deal with, rendering themselves incapable of independent functioning, and expect the prime minister to give them every bit of advice on nearly every issue under the sun. This culture must change. And it will if Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina makes it a point to delegate to ministers, formally and in written manner, authority over the ministries they are in charge of. Such action will restore the spirit of cabinet government as we have seen it operate elsewhere.
Finally, it must be said that the Prime Minister's Office has traditionally exercised supra-authority over the secretariat, with all sorts of debilitating consequences, including marginalisation of the ministries. We hope Sheikh Hasina's expressed desire to spend more time at the secretariat will help enhance the importance of the ministries and empower ministers and secretaries to uphold and ensure the seriousness, efficiency, commitment and coordination so necessary for good governance.
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