Problems and Challenges of the Bureaucracy of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, like most other developing countries, one of the most dominating features of bureaucracy is its inherited colonial legacy. Bureaucracy is an instrument to carry out public will. Democratic objectives would be impossible to attain if there is no bureaucratic organisation to implement them. The bureaucracy of Bangladesh has a hierarchical structure, the bureaucrats are professional and impersonal and their recruitment is also done by merit based examination. All of these characteristics are very much similar with the principles of Weber’s “ideal” type of bureaucracy. But this era is very much different from Weber’s days. Technological revolution , free market, global economy, aware and demanding people has changed the situation for the administration. Bureaucracy is very much slow in comparison to the changing world. Bureaucrats are accused to be biased, apathetic of their responsibilities without proper “incentives”. So if we study the bureaucracy of Bangladesh there are certain problems that will come forward.

◾Accountability is one of the significant component through which the administrative performance can be measured. There are hierarchy, span of control, supervision and other institutional means to ensure accountability of the bureaucracy , but these instruments are weak in Bangladesh. The

accountability of bureaucracy is questioned. Parliament and the civil society also do not playing effective role to keep bureaucracy on track.

◾Corruption is one of the major problems for ensuring good governance in Bangladesh. Corruption causes inefficiency in public administration. It leads to higher cost and delays in public projects, biases in formulation of public project that benefits particular group of people. It has become common practice in Bangladesh. Generally without paying speed money or bribe to the clerks most of the files are kept or remained clandestine.

◾ The decision making process within bureaucracy is highly hierarchical and slow. Low performance of bureaucracy in Bangladesh can be obtained from a recent study conducted by UNDP
on “The Utilization of Project Aid in Bangladesh” which reveals that the delays in implementation of
projects increases the project cost by 35–40% on an average. This poor performance occurs from unaccountability, lack of transparency.

◾ It is essential to maintain a transparent administration to overcome the hurdles of public administration and improve the performance of civil service. People should have access to information about day to day affairs of the state. In Bangladesh, Act of 1923, Government service conduct rule of 1979 and other acts bind the civil servant to an oath of secrecy.

◾Politicization of bureaucracy is also a great concern. British bureaucratic system prioritizes merit in appointment, promotion and in other affairs. Bangladesh has been following British style of bureaucracy since her independence. But it failed to follow it properly. The politicization of bureaucracy in Bangladesh is too much acute that promotion, higher education and other extra facilities are given under political consideration. The loyalists of ruling party are getting promotion while supporters of the opposition are being made Officers on Special Duty(OSD).

The success of democracy and implementation of development projects largely depend on the bureaucratic organisation. Problems like corruption,
favoritism, nepotism, lack of transparency has become great obstacles for the efficient performance of bureaucracy. Corruption is so much acute that general people think it is necessary process to give extra money to speed up their work. It has become a part of bureaucratic culture . There are huge communication gap between bureaucrats and citizens. The recruitment of civil servants is also great concern. The chairs of public service commission(PSD) are appointed according to political leaning. So it is expected that they will recruit loyalists of ruling party. So the bureaucrats instead of trying to improve their capabilities, are busy to show loyalty because that is necessary for their promotion. This causes poor distribution of public service and unfairness to general citizen.