BANGLADESH
A conference of aid workers and charities in Bangladesh has slammed the provision of Government services in the country, saying ordinary people face an “unmitigated ordeal” in dealing with Public Servants.
A statement released after the conference identified a lack of inclusive policy, monitoring, transparency and accountability as the main problems.
“In the absence of inclusive policy, the average and common people are ignored by service points everywhere,” the statement said.
It said service providers considered themselves placed in a higher station compared with service seekers of modest means and of little or no influence.
“This indeed is a perverse notion and its legacy is maintained right from the colonial administration,” the statement said.
“The servants of the Republic have thus each turned in to a virtual monarch.”
The statement said that when a subregistrar or a fourth-class employee of the Power Development Board could amass enough money to build several palatial houses, it could come only from the proceeds of corruption.
It said this exposed the systemic weakness of service sectors.
“First, the preparation of a centralised Budget without involvement of the people at the grassroots level is faulty,” the statement said.
“Then, those people considered disadvantaged contribute more to development but they are left out from the development planning.”
The conference particularly targeted the healthcare sector, where “facilities run by unqualified or even fake physicians or nurses cause grievous harm or even death to patients”.
“Had there been a rational and equalitarian health policy, such undesirable developments could be avoided,” the statement said.
Dhaka, 3 April 2018
