Do we really need a large cabinet?
THE Daily Star of May 8 and a Bangla daily of May 9 carried reports, which said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was planning to expand the cabinet soon. Quoting sources close to the prime minister, the reports said that the cabinet expansion might take place within a week, and if it did not happen immediately, then it might come ahead of the budget session in June.
At present there are 32 ministers including ministers of state. This excludes the six advisers to the prime minister, who hold the rank and status of ministers and been dubbed "super ministers" because of their close proximity to power.
Sources in the government and Awami League (AL) suggest that in order to bring dynamism and efficiency in government activities, the prime minister may go for expansion of the cabinet in the following way:
- Include some efficient AL and alliance leaders who have not got any cabinet post.
- Break up food and disaster management ministries into two ministries, and appoint a full minister for each.
- Appoint full ministers to the ministries of labour and employment, housing and public works, power, energy and mineral resources, women and children affairs, and cultural affairs.
- Appoint ministers of state and/or deputy ministers to the ministries of post and telecommunication, industry, commerce, communications and few others.
- Appoint two or three women lawmakers from reserved seats as ministers of state and deputy ministers.
If the above proposition is accepted, the number of ministers (according to the constitution, ministers include ministers of state and deputy ministers) will stand at forty plus. If we include the six advisers to the prime ministers, the number will be 50 or so. Will an expanded cabinet ensure dynamism and efficiency in the government activities?
A large cabinet is not a sine qua non for running the government dynamically and efficiently. In many countries including Bangladesh, a large cabinet has rather proved otherwise. We have seen how the jumbo cabinet of the four-party alliance government failed to run the government efficiently.
It may be recalled that on September 4, 2004, the then ruling and opposition lawmakers of the parliamentary committee on private members' bills and resolutions decided to table a bill brought by a Jatiya Party lawmaker, now a minister in the present cabinet, proposing amendment to the constitution for reducing the size of the cabinet.
The press was appreciative of the decision of the aforesaid parliamentary committee. The Daily Star's editorial of September 6, 2004 congratulated the committee for its decision to introduce a constitutional amendment to permanently fix the size of the cabinet, and expressed hope that the prime minister would give serious thought to the matter.
While congratulating the committee's decision to introduce the bill, the New Nation's editorial of September 6, 2004 said that reduction of the size of the entire government, that is the cabinet and the permanent set-up of the government at all levels, had been a recommendation of the multilateral donors agencies.
Different quarters had also been extending support to the idea because a big portion of the national budget had to be spent to maintain the administrative staff to implement a development program for which not much resource was left in the budget.
The bill was not placed in the house due to the then government's unwillingness. However, if the spirit of that proposal is now taken into consideration, then the number of ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers should not exceed thirty-five. The Rules of Business provide that where there is a minister of state/deputy minister, the prime minister or the minister-in-charge with the approval of the prime minister may specify the cases or classes of cases, which may be disposed of by the minister of state/deputy minister. But such instances are very rare. This has been the bone of contention between the minister and the minister of state/ deputy minister since the early nineties.
A minister of state during the four-party alliance government did not attend office for months because he was not allocated any official work. A repetition of such an instance with a considerable number of ministers of state/deputy ministers in different ministries of the present government may take place.
The caretaker governments in 1996 and 2001, with an eleven-member advisory council including the chief advisor, undoubtedly administered the country better than any party government.
To conclude, a reasonably small cabinet consisting of efficient and honest persons can run the government activities more efficiently than a large cabinet composed of inefficient and corrupt persons.
M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary to the Government.
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