Govt plans to hire private sector executives to run state agencies

FE Report

The government plans to recruit private sector executives to run state agencies in a move to inject fresh momentum into the bureaucracy, an aide to the prime minister said Tuesday.

"We must bring in fresh air in the government," HT Imam, the adviser to the prime minister on establishment and administrative affairs, said.

He said that the move would serve as "locomotive" in ensuring dynamism in the civil bureaucracy long derided as slow and inefficient.

Businessmen must be brought into the helms of government agencies such as the Board of Investment, Mr. Imam, a former top bureaucrat, told the monthly luncheon meeting of AmCham at a city hotel.

He unveiled the plan at a time when the present government moved ahead with

steps to reform the public administration as part of its election pledge.

"The conventional top-down approach impedes growth and economic development," he said, adding there is a strong urge for administrative reforms.

Responding to the needs, he said the present government has initiated some packages such as enactment of Civil Service Act, Promotion and Placement Rules, clustering of different ministries and divisions and introducing e-governance.

Mr. Imam said the government would reshape the Regulatory Reform Commission (RRC) to make it more effective.

"It's not in cold storage, nor in hibernation," he said about the commission.

"The finance minister asked the RRC officials to go slow as he had to address other pressing needs such as the budget formulation. It will now come in another form," Mr. Imam.

He announced the present government's plan less than a month after RRC's top boss, Dr. Akbar Ali Khan, stepped down.

Mr. Imam noted that his government would present the nation with something better than Bangladesh Better Business Forum (BBBF).

While delivering the speech, the adviser identified absence of rule of law and culture of impunity, corruption, parliamentary effectiveness, lack of political consensus, administrative reform and unmanageable population as major challenges of democratic governance.

Mr. Imam said the country's economic growth is retarded by at least 3.0 per cent as a consequence of corruption.

He also blamed unmanageable population for the developmental drag, saying the larger portion of the populace remains malnourished and lacks modern development requirements such as quality education, shelter, healthcare and access to resources.

Chaired by AmCham president Aftabul Islam, the luncheon meeting was also addressed by President of Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Waliur Rahman Bhuiyan, and a consultant of SF Ahmed and Co. Feroz Ahmed.