February 11, 2025
DHAKA – A survey conducted by the Public Administration Reform Commission has revealed widespread public dissatisfaction with the country’s public administration. According to the survey, conducted on over one lakh people, a staggering 80 percent of respondents believe the administration is not public-friendly, while 66 percent feel civil servants behave like “rulers.” Moreover, 96 percent believe the public administration lacks transparency and accountability, 69 percent say it has lacked neutrality over the past 15 years, and 84 percent feel reforms are essential. These findings are as eye-opening as they are alarming, and we hope that they will be taken into account by the authorities as the country awaits a major overhaul of its public administration.
Other findings of the survey are equally troubling. For example, a significant percentage of respondents have reported experiencing discourteous behaviour from government employees, believed that receiving services without paying bribes is impossible, and faced harassment while seeking services. Furthermore, many have also identified political interference and corruption as key obstacles to making the administration people-friendly.
Reforming the public administration has been long overdue in the country. Since independence, there have been at least 16 commissions and committees that proposed measures for an efficient, merit-based, and service-oriented civil administration. But most of these recommendations were ignored largely due to opposition from bureaucrats as well as a lack of political will. In particular, under the Awami League’s rule for more than 15 years, corruption and irregularities within the administration reached unprecendented heights. We observed how public officials blatantly violated service rules by running “side businesses” and engaging in corruption. Even the government itself encouraged corruption, as highlighted last year when the public administration ministry proposed relaxing a rule requiring civil servants to submit wealth statements every five years. Meanwhile, the public continued to suffer from inadequate services.
Now that an opportunity for reform has finally arrived, it must not be wasted. As the Public Administration Reform Commission has submitted its report to the chief adviser—outlining short-, medium-, and long-term plans—these should be discussed properly with all relevant stakeholders so that greater public interests are served through reforms. While removing discrimination among different cadres should be a priority, the ultimate goal must be to build a public administration that is transparent, corruption-free, service-oriented, and truly people-friendly. Simply put, public servants should serve the people, not the other way around.