The International Public Service Day was observed on June 23. In 1935, British Prime Minister David George commented about the ICS officers in British House of Commons: "The steel frame on which the whole structure of our government & of our administration in India rest." In fact, public servants are the agents for the fulfilment of the desires of the people; and development plans are implemented by them under the guidance of political leadership. 

Public sector's role is crucial for long-term economic growth by establishing a congenial climate for business and investment. People's rights and livelihoods, land and accommodation, health and food safety, security and environment, business and investment, transportation, etc. solely rely on public offices like Police Department, Land Administration, BRTA, BSTI, Environment Department, BOI, Health department, etc. For example, prompt issuance of environment clearance certificate, timely clearance from Board of Investment, getting connection of gas, water and power supply within desired time, speedy registration and mutation of lands, quick clearance from RAJUK/housing authority, hassle-free payment of vat and taxes are crucial for smooth operation and growth of business. These are key areas where citizens deserve to get un-interrupted service from the public service departments. The country deserves pro-people, pro-nature and pro-development attitude and activities of the public servants in materialising the economic goals of the government. 

Working in the field administration, my deep-rooted feeling is that the efficiency and initiatives of public servants determine the success or failure of public offices. Mere formulation of plans and policies are not sufficient enough to achieve goal rather the strategy of implementation, the mechanism of monitoring and the standard of governance are the criteria for bringing successful results.

Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam are now role models in South East Asia for excellent public services. In Singapore, a business can be set up online in 15 minutes where bureaucracy has transformed the country into a compliant state under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew. But people undergo woes and miseries in public offices of Bangladesh where public perceptions about government offices are painful. We criticise political leaders for interference in public offices but in most cases public officials are primarily responsible for causing impediments and bottlenecks. People believe that changing attitude and mindset of the civil servants are crucial for ensuring justice in society. 

All our initiatives and reforms will go in vain without strong integrity among public servants. Reward and punishment culture as well as timely performance evaluation are core issues for establishing good governance. Departmental punishment is not effective in curbing harassment and corruption, rather imposing penalty or compensation from persons for causing trouble to citizens or harming state's interest might be a strong deterrent against misdeeds. As CEO of Milk Vita, I enforced such a practice and realised considerable amount of penalty from the accused officials which caused successful feedback for improving their performance and level of morality.

The colonial concept of government officers as 'elite' has gone and the Bangladesh Civil Service is now enriched with bright and talented officers to render services to the nation. Citizens deserve to find public servants as dynamic, productive and innovative. The burden of the cost of running public offices ultimately falls on the taxpayers who deserve service. People demand hassle-free service, quickest  possible service - and easily. Civil service should be like customer service having corporate behaviour with strong ethics in service delivery.

The writer, a former Joint Secretary to the Government, is now Secretary, Dhaka Power Distribution Co. Ltd.

mmunirc@gmail.com

  [Read More]

—–
Source: The Financial Express