Eliminate conflict among cadres thru public administration reform

In the changed context following the July uprising, several reform commissions were formed under the leadership of Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, with the aim of carrying out fundamental reforms of the state. Among them, a notable one was the Public Administration Reform Commission formed on 3 October, 2024. With over 100 recommendations aimed at overhauling the entire structure of public administration, the Commission submitted its report to the head of the interim government on 5 February.

After submitting the report, the Commission stated that all of its recommendations were implementable. However, soon after the submission, it became known that there was serious disagreement between the Commission and the cadres. Officers of the administration cadre took various positions against the Commission’s proposals and took to the streets with different demands, which sparked widespread discussion across the country at the time. According to news published on Monday (13 October), administrative reforms are now stuck due to conflicts among the cadres.

According to available information, a meeting was held on 22 May between the Consensus Commission, the Inter-Cadre Disparity Elimination Council, the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association, and the Bangladesh Police Service Association. In the meeting, the Consensus Commission advised the three parties to present a joint recommendation. Following the advice, the three parties sat together on 30 June but failed to reach any decision. As a result, many public-interest recommendations have not been implemented.

Out of 208 recommendations made by the Public Administration Reform Commission, 18 were identified as requiring urgent implementation. Of these, only three have been implemented so far. Six more have been included in the July Charter. This means nine other recommendations marked for urgent implementation remain pending, not to mention the rest. At this rate, it is uncertain when the recommendations will actually be implemented.

We know that the main reason for the deadlock is the issue of the Deputy Secretary post. The Reform Commission had proposed that 50 percent of the promotions to this post would go to the administration cadre and 50 percent to other cadres. Currently, the ratio is 75:25. If the Commission’s proposal is implemented, the promotion rate for administration cadre officers will decrease further. Since then, the cadres have essentially taken a stand against the Consensus Commission. They are now raising objections on other issues as well. The July National Charter has been prepared with 84 reform proposals, six of which concern public administration. Even over these six, disagreement persists among cadre officers. 

If such disagreement continues, reforms will not only be delayed but in many cases become uncertain. Initially, we were told that elections would be held after implementing some basic reforms. Now we hear that reforms will be done by the elected government. Judging by the situation, it seems that even an elected government will not be able to carry out any fundamental reforms. In other words, the structure of the state will essentially remain the same. The question then arises: if the old state system remains intact, what did we gain from the uprising that cost so many lives? If fundamental state reforms are not carried out, the uprising itself will come under serious question. Therefore, our expectation is that no reform should be stalled due to conflicts among cadres. The government must resolve the disputes among cadres to ensure fundamental reforms in public administration. If, for any reason, these basic reforms fail, the responsibility will fall squarely on the interim government.