The country’s 57 ministries and divisions have 94 secretaries and officials of equivalent rank in their administrative structure. Of them, 11 secretaries currently have no official responsibilities. They have been attached to the Ministry of Public Administration. Two important ministries and divisions are also operating under acting officials without full-time secretaries.

Public administration officials say the secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or division. The position plays an important role in policy implementation, administrative coordination, decision-making, financial management and overseeing the activities of subordinate offices and agencies. Keeping officials of secretary rank without formal responsibilities for an extended period while important offices are being run by acting secretaries has therefore raised questions about the effectiveness of deploying skilled personnel in the administration.

According to information from the Cabinet Division, the 11 secretaries currently attached to the Ministry of Public Administration are Md Saifullah Panna, Md Rezaul Maksud Zahedi, Farzana Momtaz, Khan Md Nurul Amin NDC, Zaheda Parveen, Md Mufidur Rahman, Kaniz Mawla, Mohammad Khaled Rahim, Kazi Md Anwar Hossain, Md Raihan Kawsar and Md Sakhawat Hossain.

The Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, the Internal Resources Division and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) are operating under acting officials. Dr Fahmida Khanam is serving as acting secretary of the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change, while Ahsan Habib is serving as acting secretary of the Internal Resources Division and acting chairman of the NBR.

One official is currently attached to the Ministry of Public Administration pending her next appointment as secretary. Yasmin Parveen has been attached to the Ministry of Public Administration pending her next posting as secretary, according to information from the Cabinet Division. She is not currently serving as secretary of any ministry or division and will remain attached to the Ministry of Public Administration until her next appointment.

Speaking to Bonik Barta about the matter, State Minister for Public Administration Md Abdul Bari said, “Officials are mainly attached to the Ministry of Public Administration pending their next postings. In some cases, when an official is nearing the end of their service, they may be attached to the Ministry of Public Administration at their request. There can be various reasons for such attachments.”

He said: “The current government is restructuring the public administration by giving importance to efficiency, competence and merit. It’s working to build a people-oriented public administration by overcoming the stagnation of the past. For this reason, the government doesn’t want to keep anyone idle while continuing to pay their salaries.”

The administration-related sources said there can be various administrative reasons behind attaching an official to the Ministry of Public Administration. These may include preparations for a subsequent posting, organisational restructuring or nearing the end of an official’s service. But when an official remains without any official responsibilities for an extended period after being attached, there is little opportunity to utilise their experience and expertise. The official also continues to receive salary, allowances and other benefits associated with holding an important administrative position.

All 11 secretaries attached to the Ministry of Public Administration have experience working at various important offices in the field administration and central government. Md Saifullah Panna has served at the Land Appeal Board and the Chief Adviser’s Office; Md Rezaul Maksud Zahedi in field administration, the Ministry of Public Administration, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Bangladesh Public Service Commission; Farzana Momtaz in the power and energy sector; Khan Md Nurul Amin in the health services sector and the President’s Office; Zaheda Parveen in the Coordination and Reform Wing of the Cabinet Division; Md Mufidur Rahman at the ministries of public administration, finance and cultural affairs; Kaniz Mawla at the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), the Parliament Secretariat and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs; Mohammad Khaled Rahim in field administration, the Cabinet Division and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC); Kazi Anwar Hossain in the local government and information technology sectors; Md Raihan Kawsar in the land and environment, forest and climate change sectors; and Md Sakhawat Hossain in field administration and the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education.

A secretary-rank official attached to the Ministry of Public Administration, speaking to Bonik Barta on condition of anonymity, said, “The position of secretary is one of the most important responsibilities at the highest level of the administration. Officials serving at this level gain experience throughout their careers by working in field administration, ministries, divisions and various government institutions. Such experience is an important asset for the government in policy formulation and implementation, inter-ministerial coordination and administrative decision-making.”

He further said, “Keeping secretary-rank officials attached to the Ministry of Public Administration without any official responsibilities limits the opportunity to utilise their extensive administrative experience and institutional knowledge in government affairs.”

According to those concerned, the posting of officials in the public administration is an ongoing process. Consequently, the 11 secretaries currently without official responsibilities may also receive postings later. But keeping them without official duties for an extended period creates a risk that their accumulated experience and expertise will remain underutilised.

The need to run important offices through acting secretaries also comes into question. So in the interest of effectively utilising skilled personnel in the administration, the situation needs to be addressed through prompt and appropriate postings and a clear distribution of responsibilities.

Asked about the overall situation, former secretary and former rector of the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre AKM Abdul Awal Mazumder told Bonik Barta, “I don’t know why the government isn’t utilising these officials. But based on my experience over the past 15 to 20 years, I can say that the government may no longer consider them trustworthy. But the issue can’t be explained entirely by blaming the government. We’ve taken the civil service to a point where the government can find a thousand reasons to distrust officials. If the government distrusts an official and the official also has no trust in the government, it naturally becomes difficult to assign that person important responsibilities.”