Secretaries Active in Speeding Up Administration
- First Meeting of 62 Senior Secretaries Under New Government Held
- Secretaries Urged to Form Action Plans for Implementing Election Manifesto
- Directives Given on Good Governance and Improving Service Quality in Administration
- Implementation of Renewable Energy Development Strategy Paper
- Agreement to Deliver Government’s Benefits to the People’s Doorstep
Panchayet Habib
Delivering services to the people’s doorstep and ensuring citizens’ rights is one of the government’s foremost goals and responsibilities; serving the public is not a favor but a core duty of the state. Various steps are being taken to build a corruption-free administration and bring transparency to the work of government offices. These include taking action against government officials involved in improper promotions and postings within the administration, speeding up government development work, increasing security in the Secretariat and other KPI-designated areas, and instructing the administration to ensure that ordinary people can easily and smoothly access government services related to setting up solar power plants.
There is no alternative to a transparent, accountable, and people-friendly land management system for building a just and modern state. Providing service is not a favor to the people; rather, ensuring service to the public is the government’s duty. Prime Minister Mr. Tarique Rahman had pledged in the government’s election manifesto to establish a corruption-free, harassment-free, technology-based, and citizen-friendly land management system, among other commitments. Nearly six months after the new government was formed, the first secretaries’ meeting was held to discuss the Prime Minister’s pledges. Emphasis was placed on implementing the election manifesto and advice was given on placing competent officials in important posts; officials were also urged to overcome the lack of coordination and make the administration more active in serving the people.
The meeting was held yesterday, Tuesday, at the Cabinet Division conference room in the Bangladesh Secretariat in the capital, chaired by Cabinet Secretary Dr. Nasimul Ghani. Starting at 4:30 PM, the meeting continued until night. Although the formal agenda contained four items, discussions beyond that covered the government’s activities, administrative capacity, public expectations, and coordination among various ministries and departments.
Sources said that beyond the formal discussion, conversations touched on the realities of the administration. Alongside various formal agenda items, proposals from senior secretaries and secretaries on important informal matters — those that could make government activities more dynamic, welfare-oriented, and effective, and have a positive impact on the public — were said to have been reviewed. The National Renewable Energy Development Strategy Paper (2026–2030) was presented at the meeting for discussion on future plans for the energy sector.
However, the significance of the meeting was not limited to the set agenda. Discussions also focused on how to make the government’s current activities more effective, how to meet public expectations, and how to speed up the implementation of decisions at various levels of the administration. Such a coordinated meeting of top administrative officials is important for a government, because although the work of ministries and departments is separate, they are deeply interconnected in implementing government policy. A decision or initiative by one ministry may depend on approval, funds, manpower, or field-administration support from another. As a result, any gap in coordination ultimately affects ordinary people.
At the meeting, several officials pointed to the lack of coordination as one of the main problems in the administration. According to them, when proper coordination is lacking between ministries and departments in implementing many of the government’s important decisions, the pace of work slows down. In some cases, multiple agencies work on the same issue but, lacking a coordinated approach, fail to achieve the desired result. The government’s major challenge now is not only making decisions but ensuring their swift implementation.
The primary responsibility for implementing a political government’s policies and commitments rests with the administration. Officials therefore believe it is essential to clarify responsibility and accountability at every level of the administration and to increase inter-ministerial coordination. In particular, if there are coordination gaps in projects, services, and policy decisions of public importance, even positive government initiatives may be perceived negatively by the public. Taking this reality into account, the meeting placed emphasis on coordinated efforts in administrative activities.
Competent officials in important posts: The secretaries’ meeting also gave importance to placing competent officials in key posts. The need to ensure proper use of merit, experience, and skill in implementing government policy was raised. Posting of officials within the administration is not merely a routine administrative process — it is directly related to the effectiveness of government activities. The implementation of a policy often depends on the capability of the officials responsible for important ministries, departments, directorates, or field administration. The meeting therefore stressed the need to give competent officials important responsibilities according to their merit. Connected to this is ensuring professionalism and a proper working environment within the administration, since if an official has adequate independence and cooperation in carrying out duties, the pace of implementing decisions can increase.
Greater scope for secretaries to work independently: The meeting also discussed giving secretaries of relevant ministries and departments greater scope to work independently. According to senior administrative officials, it is difficult to achieve the desired pace if officials lack the authority to make necessary decisions in carrying out their duties. Alongside political leadership, the administration’s professional competence is important in implementing the government’s policy decisions. Secretaries are most familiar with the realities, limitations, and potential of their respective ministries’ work; therefore, there needs to be a balance between their responsibility and authority. Here, “scope to work independently” does not mean operating outside the administrative structure, but rather making quick decisions within defined responsibilities, carrying out necessary coordination, and increasing the capacity to implement decisions.
Special emphasis on implementing the election manifesto: Implementing the election manifesto is one of the most important matters facing the current government, and the meeting placed special emphasis on this as well. A government’s popularity and political acceptability are directly linked to the implementation of its election pledges. Turning pre-election promises into practical action plans and implementing them in phases is a major responsibility for the administration. At the secretaries’ meeting, many officials stressed prioritizing manifesto issues in action plans. According to them, it must be identified which ministry each pledge in the manifesto falls under, which ones involve multiple ministries in implementation, and which ones require legislation, funding, or administrative reform. In this regard, not only large projects but also services and decisions that affect ordinary people’s daily lives must be given importance, since the real assessment of government activities is made through citizens’ experience.
Information on positive work must also reach the public: The meeting also emphasized properly highlighting the government’s various positive activities. Some officials believe that after a good government initiative is taken, how it reaches the public also matters. If a decision is implemented but ordinary people do not learn about it, or do not get a clear idea of how to obtain its benefits, the impact of the initiative may be limited.
However, highlighting the government’s positive activities needs to go beyond mere publicity and be linked with transparency and accessibility of information. The public must be informed — what decision has been made, why it was made, what benefit it will bring to people, and how much progress has been made in its implementation.
Speeding up administration to realize the vision: The meeting discussed that realizing the Prime Minister’s public-welfare-centered vision and expectations requires restoring pace to the administration. The administration is essentially the instrument for implementing state policy. However good a plan the political leadership makes, the public will not benefit from it unless the administrative structure can implement it. Conversely, if the administration works swiftly and in a coordinated manner, visible change is possible in many areas even with limited resources. In this context, the discussion at the secretaries’ meeting gave special importance to administrative dynamism. Relevant ministries and departments were urged to work together, increase coordination among themselves, and reduce delays in implementing decisions.
First major coordinated message six months into the government: This secretaries’ meeting, bringing together top officials from all ministries and departments, was held more than six months after the government took office. As a result, there is little scope to view the meeting merely as a routine administrative gathering. Rather, it offers a hint of the government’s administrative priorities for the days ahead.
Analyzing the issues raised at the meeting, three points stand out in particular: administrative dynamism, inter-ministerial coordination, and implementation of election pledges. To bring speed to government activities, emphasis was placed on assigning competent officials to the right positions, giving secretaries the necessary independence in carrying out their duties, and increasing coordination between ministries and departments. At the same time, there was a push to prioritize issues that can have a direct positive impact on the public.
The question now is how far the discussions at the secretaries’ meeting translate into real action plans, because while policy discussions at top-level administrative meetings are important, what matters even more is how those decisions are reflected at the field level. In the end, the public wants to see results, not discussions. The administration’s capability will ultimately be measured by how long it takes to receive services, how quickly government decisions are implemented, whether harassment is decreasing, and whether the benefits of development and welfare initiatives are reaching the people. The push for restoring pace to the administration that emerged at the secretaries’ meeting will now face the test of implementation.
Overcoming internal coordination gaps within the administration and building an effective, responsible, and results-oriented administrative structure will be the major challenge ahead in order to implement election pledges, ensure public services, and deliver the benefits of the government’s positive initiatives to the people. The BNP-led government has been in office for more than six months. During this time, a secretaries’ meeting bringing together senior secretaries and secretaries from all ministries and departments was held for the first time. Along with making government work more dynamic, welfare-oriented, and effective, the meeting focused on removing internal coordination gaps within the administration, posting competent officials to important positions, and giving special emphasis to implementing the election manifesto — particularly emphasizing resolving the power and energy crisis. Discussion focused on strengthening energy and electricity savings.
The meeting raised issues such as overcoming the crisis through solar systems and rooftop solar installations for power generation. Several senior secretaries and secretaries presented their views, saying that to deliver the benefits of various government initiatives to the public, more pace must be brought to the administration. At the same time, it is essential to remove coordination gaps between ministries and departments — not just making decisions, but also increasing the capacity to implement those decisions swiftly. The secretaries’ meeting also held special discussion on the “National Renewable Energy Development Strategy Paper (2026–2030),” and, as learned from secretaries present, a copy of the strategy paper was sent to each secretary.
