Posted on 29th Sep 2024 09:35:08 PM Public Administration
Definition : Transparency is a condition of information, participation and accountability in the sense of open communication between the actors of the political system and the citizens. It is closely linked to both the demand for transparency in public administration and the principle of public access.
Transparency in Government : Transparency is accessibility of the citizenry to information and administrative processes within the government. Quick availability of and access to information or data is, therefore, a basic ingredient of a transparent bureaucracy. Withholding information without valid reason is a kind of deception. If any government agency is in trouble the citizenry should be informed of the reason of trouble. Shielding reality from the citizenry is equal to treating them like aliens. In Bangladesh the following are the major processes of establishing transparency of the government.
Decentralization : A transparent bureaucracy provides an open and a "comprehensive decision making process. This is possible when administrative system is decentralized to the peripheral areas and participation of the people in the decision making process is provided. Local government is the outcome of the concept of decentralisation creating scope for the local people to see for themselves what is happening in the government. In Bangladesh, the whole governmental administration has been decentralised by creating 4403 unions, 463 upazilas and 64 districts.
The district administration operating in 64 districts is the deconcentrated form of decentralisation which is being practised in Bangladesh. Each district administration is the representative of the national government and is an instrument to deliver social services to the citizenry of each district. Each district has collectorate and magisterial courts headed by deputy commissioner who is responsible for collecting land-revenue and administering justice in the district.
To ensure transparency and accountability and to enable people to ventilate their grievances, the office of the Deputy Commissioner holds three routine conferences every month: law and order conference, judicial conference, and police magistracy conference. These monthly conferences are mechanisms to practise transparency.
Free Press : Press and mass media play a crucial role and act as a watchdog in establishing a transparent government. The press has great responsibility in pointing out in papers when malpractice, irregularity, and unfairness are detected. The press can act freely and smoothly only when a democratic climate prevails in the country. In Bangladesh, the press is enjoying adequate freedom since the establishment of parliamentary democracy on the basis of consensus in 1991. Newspapers now publish freely news and reports about administrative action or inaction, corruption etc. The press is active and prompt in publishing reports on abuse of power or highhandedness and arrogance demonstrated by government officials. Thus the press acts as a deterrent for government officials, as well as for elected public representatives who remain careful while discharging their tasks and responsibilities.
Ombudsman : The he constitution of Bangladesh provides for the office of the ombudsman to ensure accountability as well as transparency under Article 77. Ombudsman can deal with complaints against the administration through direct access of the citizens. It is believed that if the ombudsman is made functional, it can bridge the gap between a democratic government and the electorate.
Public money : The budget is universally used as a mechanism to control or regulate expenditures of the public money. In Bangladesh, it is the responsibility of the elected representatives to allocate public money in different heads of expenditure, the money is spent through the members of the Bangladesh civil service. The budget is primarily an administrative and fiscal document that shows sources of income and all proposed expenditures to give an opportunity for complete review of what is to be done.
Under the rules of business of the government the responsibility for preparation of the annual financial statement and presentation of the same to the jatiya sangsad has been given to the Ministry of Finance which is administratively headed by a senior civil servant. The material on which the budget and demands for grants are based are obtained by the Ministry of Finance in the form of detailed estimates from the heads of departments, agencies, and the like.
Parliamentary Question : It provides opportunities to members of the Sangsad to subject administrators to critical examinations both in respect of policy and action. Parliamentary questions are regarded as a valuable safeguard against bureaucratic excess, for they ensure that, at quite a short notice, any official action may have to be publicly defended by the responsible minister. Supplementary questions may also arise. This keeps both administrators and ministers alert since questions generally reflect public opinion. Theoretically, the minister is questioned, but in practice, civil servants are to prepare answers to the questions. These questions and answers are published in newspapers and are telecast, and through this citizens come to know how governmental policies are adopted and implemented.
Training : Training civil servants and reorienting politicians are the responsibility of the government. The function of training the civil servants at all levels has been delegated to Bangladesh public administration training centre (BPATC). In order to meet the changing needs of the civil service and to fulfil the government's vision of making a transparent and an accountable administration, BPATC has designed training curricula for junior as well as senior government officials. Group discussions and workshops/seminars on the value of transparency are frequently held to reinforce the conceptual base and operational attitude of the actors of government.
Transparency of government implies its responsiveness to the changing needs of the people and the emerging problems they are confronted with. Transparency and democracy are complementary to each other. Only through establishment of a democratic system, it is possible to practice transparency both in politics and government administration.
Transparency in Public Administration : People understand transparency quite differently. In terms of politics and administration, Transparency is a condition of freedom of information, participation and accountability in the sense of open communication between the actors of the political system and the citizens. It is closely linked to both the demand for transparency in public administration and the principle of public access.
In order to obtain transparency in public administration, now widely emerged following stages:
1. Administration provides selected general information
2. Administration provides insight into non-personal administrative proceedings
3. Administration with all its processes is open for all to examine; inquiries can be launched without proof of being personally affected
4. Administration implements comprehensive public involvement
But what are the prerequisites for this transparency? The following list offers an overview of what has to be implemented from the perspective of the administration.
[1] Fully electronic and traceable business processes : Transparency requires electronic access to all data related to content and processes; otherwise transparency is in fact not possible.
[2] Use of basic components : Using subject-specific procedures to establish transparency can work only if common basic components (e.g., ECM, electronic records) are used - both to administer the data and to further offer it directly in electronic form.
[3] Use of standard formats and standard interfaces for uniform access : Efficient data availability across application boundaries is possible only by using standard document formats (e.g., ISO standards) and standard interfaces (e.g., W3C and/or national standards such as XOV, eCH, EDIAKT). At the same time, simple access is the basis for a viable use.
[4] Ensuring both timeliness and quality of data : Business processes need to ensure rapid availability and quality of data - directly from its source in the central system would be best - because data without this aspect lacks value and reflects a false reality.
[5] Complying with statutory provisions and ensuring data security
In present situation public sector needed transparency below the points where public sector is corrupted:
Corruption in Law Enforcement Agency : During the study period Law Enforcement Agencies (Police, BDR, Ansar & VDP) was found to be the most corrupt service sector. In recent years in police department is one of the most talked topics in Bangladesh. Several reports (WB 2000, US Human Rights Report 2000) revealed that corruption is widespread in police service in Bangladesh. In 1997, TIB in its PSurvey on Corruption in Bangladesh? also found police service as one of the most corrupt sectors.
Corruption in Local Government : At Local Government level, Union Parishad unit has 48 reported cases of corruption, which is the highest among other Local' Government organizations. District Parishad and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) follow Union Parishad where reported cases were 23. There were 21 reported cases of corruption at Thana Parishad level. Both City Corporation and Pourashava have 11 reported cases.
Corruption of Education : Education is one of the largest and important public service providers in Bangladesh. The National Plan of Action (NPA) 1990 in its overview stated that widespread lack of basic education was the Achilles hell of the society and economy of Bangladesh. Millions of dollars have already been pumped in this sector but the situation is far from reaching a satisfactory level.
Corruption in Health : Health is the another important public service sector and its services for developing country like Bangladesh cannot be over emphasized. The government has fixed a target to achieve? health for all? by the year 2000 and providing lot of resources in this sector.
Corruption in Forest and Environment : Table 3.6 shows the distribution of reported corruption cases on Forest and Environment. During our study period fifty-nine cases were reported about forest department. Officials and employees of Forest Department, permitted the wood smugglers to cut forest trees from the forests. Sometimes cutting and selling of trees by the officials themselves were reported. Timber traders with direct cooperation of forest officials are cutting huge quantity of wood and poachers are killing animals through bribery and other illegal means. The highest number of cases about Forest Department was embezzlement (20) that was one-third of the total reported cases on this sector. The number of cases related to abuse of power was 14 followed by 12 cases of bribery.
Corruption in Direct and Indirect Taxation : Taxation is the largest source of revenue for the government of Bangladesh. For this research direct and indirect taxation department was consisted of Customs, Revenue, VAT and taxation administration.
There were 60 reported case of corruption in this sector during six-month data collection through news scan in nine dallies. Abuse of power and bribery were most reported cases in customs department. Seventeen cases were reported related to abuse of power whereas the number of reported cases on bribery was 15. Tax collectors are collecting excess tax violating government rules or releasing importers of illegal goods through bribery or misappropriating money that was collected as taxes.
Corruption in Finance : Fraud, embezzlement and abuse of power are the most common form of corruption practices in the financial sector and most of those reported cases are occurring in the nationalized banks. During the research period, there were 56 reported cases on corruption of which 21 cases related to Fraud, 19 cases on embezzlement and 14 cases of abuse of power. There were 2 cases reported on abuse of power in Investment Company. Some examples of corruption in this sector are a group of bank officials from a nationalized bank submitted false papers to draw agricultural loan for the farmers or in another case a farmer got agricultural loan less than the sanctioned amount. Some officials were involved in forging LC or selling dollars in the black market. GM and other high bank officials were found involved in different kinds of irregularities by providing loans to their chosen firms and industries.
Corruption in Communication Sector : There were 49 reported cases of corruption in the transport and communication sector where abuse of power had been the dominant form of corruption practices. There were 18 cases on abuse of power of which 13 cases were reported in Bangladesh Railway department.
Corruption in Water Resources Sector : Water Resources sector consisted of WDB, Irrigation, Water Resource Ministry and WAPDA and most reported cases of corruption were published for Water Development Board (WDB). There were total of 46 reported cases of which 21 cases related to embezzlement, 10 cases of misuse of resources and 6 cases of abuse of power. There were some cases relating to bribery (3) and refusal to provide services (4).
There were reported cases of embezzlement and abuse of power for WDB authority when some of their officials by passed Tender process and selected constructors by taking bribes. Project directors, engineers and other officials misappropriated public funds in various construction projects. There were reported cases of corruption for Water Resource Ministry and the minister misappropriated public funds for personal use.
Corruption in Post & Telecommunication Sector : There were 40 reported cases of corruption in Post & Telecommunication sector and most of the corruption cases are related to abuse of power (11) followed by embezzlement (8) and bribery (7). There were some cases of refusal to provide services (5) and fraud (4) also. Accusations are more common in BTTB where BTTB officials were found to harass subscribers by providing false bills and taking bribes to reduce phone bills or extorting extra money by disconnecting and reconnecting telephone lines. Refusal to provide services is more common type of corrupt practices in Post Office where mails and other documents are not delivered on time.
Corruption in Power Service Sector : Power Service Sector consisted of PDB, DESA, PBS and REB and reported cases during the research period were 39. Highest number of cases were reported for PDB (23) followed by DESA (10), PBS (5) and REB (1). Most of the cases were related to abuse of power (15) then 7 cases for embezzlement, 5 cases of bribery, 4 cases of fraud and 4 cases of misuse of resources. PDB official and engineers are involved in various irregularities like taking bribes from public for reduced bills, 60 crore taka were embezzled by showing as system loss, unauthorized and illegal connections are being provided.
Corruption in Land Administration : During the news scan survey period there were 32 reported case of corruption in Land Administration and out of 37 directorate/sector surveyed this administration is the 13th corrupt department. Most of the cases were reported for bribery (12), abuse of power (7), extortion (5). There were some cases of fraud, embezzlement and refusal to provide services. Above all these sectors are corrupted. So transparency must be needed all these public sectors.
Right to Information Act, 2009 : An Act to make provisions for ensuring free flow of information and people's right to information. Whereas freedom of thought, conscience and speech is recognized in the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh as one of the fundamental rights and right to information is an inalienable part of freedom of thought, conscience and speech; and Whereas all powers of the Republic belong to the people, and it is necessary to ensure right to information for the empowerment of the people; and Whereas if the right to information of the people is ensured, the transparency and accountability of all public, autonomous and statutory organisations and of other private institutions constituted or run by government or foreign financing shall increase, corruption of the same shall decrease and good governance of the same shall be established; and Whereas it is expedient and necessary to make provisions for ensuring transparency and accountability in all public, autonomous and statutory organisations and in other private institutions constituted or run by government or foreign financing.
Conclusion : Despite all demands for transparency, it is paramount to comply with legal regulations while protecting the data from tampering and unauthorized access. These requirements clearly show the way; any organization can easily discern whether the path to transparency will yet be rather difficult, particularly in view of the available infrastructure. One thing, however, is already clear in many cases the constant requests for waiving formal rules and regulations are of little help in implementing transparency.
Assignment, Definition, Transparency, Government, Decentralization, Free, Press, Ombudsman, Public, Money, Parliamentary, Question, Training, Administration, Law, Enforcement, Agency, Local, Education, Health, Forest, Environment, Direct, Indirect, Taxation, Finance, Fraud, Corruption, Communication, Water, Resources
Share on Facebook