A section of bureaucracy is more influential than advisers: Iftekharuzzaman
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman has said that a section of the bureaucracy is more influential than the interim government’s advisory council.
He said the advisory council does not actually decide which documents it will sign or which decisions it will take.
Instead, those decisions are made by extremely powerful individuals within the bureaucracy.
Iftekharuzzaman made the remarks in response to a query by newspersons at a press conference held at TIB’s office in Dhanmondi at 11:00 am on Monday.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) presented an observation titled “Resistance to Reform in the Drafting of Interim Government Ordinances” at a press conference.
It said that during the interim government, almost all ordinances, with a few exceptions, bowed to the obstructive powers of the influential sections of the bureaucracy, undermining reform.
A journalist asks why the government yields. Iftekharuzzaman said in response that he does not have a precise answer to this question. However, after observing the government closely for a long time, he has understood that the influential section of the bureaucracy determines which elements a decision will include and which it will not. In this case, not only their group interests but also political interests are reflected.
In the TIB presentation, Iftekharuzzaman highlighted the positive and negative aspects of the ordinances enacted during the interim government. He said that, with a few minor exceptions, the government drafted ordinances unilaterally without involving stakeholders. In some cases, draft ordinances were briefly published on the website as a token gesture to shift responsibility.
Iftekharuzzaman said that in some cases, certain stakeholders managed to secure advisory opportunities despite facing significant obstacles and even hostility. However, even in those cases, their promised reforms were ignored without explanation. He added that in some instances, the government even engaged in propaganda against certain stakeholders.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Iftekharuzzaman believes that in each of the ordinances on the Anti-Corruption Commission, Police Commission, National Human Rights Commission, cyber security, personal data protection, and national data management, the bureaucracy and those in power were allowed to continue exercising unchecked and unaccountable authority over national interest.
He said that overall, the government failed to set an example of the expected transparency and proactive disclosure of information in lawmaking and decisions related to public interest.