BANGLADESH RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS JOURNAL

ISSN: 1998-2003, Volume: 3, Issue: 4, Page: 1228-1241, March-April, 2010

GOOD GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT: TOWARDS A LEGAL

REGIME: THE BANGLADESH CASE
Mohammad Bulbul Ahmed*1
Mohammad Bulbul Ahmed. (2010). Good Governance and Development: Towards a Legal Regime:
The Bangladesh Case. Bangladesh Res. Pub. J. 3(4): 1228-1241. Retrieve from
http://www.bdresearchpublications.com/admin/journal/upload/09141/09141.pdf

Abstract
Actually Governance is the manner in which power is exercised in the
management of a countrys economic and social resources for
development. There are three distinct aspect of Governance which are: 1)
the form of political regime & the legitimacy of Government. 2) The process
in which authority is exercised in the management of a countrys
economic & social resources. 3) The capacity of governments to design,
formulate and implement policies and discharge functions.

Introduction
Good governance is a much-discussed topic now a days. Because Good
governance, passionately desirable state of affairs, has different connotations to
different people. The concept of "governance" is not new. It is old as human
civilization.
Simply put 'governance' means the process of decision are implemented
(or not implemented). Governance can be used in several contexts such as
Corporate governance, international governance, national governance and
local governance. In general sense governance means exercising Political power
to manage a nation affair. Today governance is seen as a reflection of the role of
the state in giving direction to the development, a country and political regime.
In recent years there have been numerous attempts to define the term,
but Governance is a production for the socio-economic development of a
country as well as governance can simply be defined as the manner in which
public affairs are conducted. According to World Bank booklet reports,
governance as the "manner in
which power is exercised in the management of a countries economic
and social resources for development". Governance can be viewed both in
positive and negative terms. Good governance and poor or bad governance.
For better understanding of good governance, we should known what is
poor governance. Because it has been claimed that bad governance is
regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within societies.
A World Bank booklet cogently summarized the major symptoms of poor In
addition, Good governance involves carrying out the functions of the
government without abuse and corruption and with due regard to law. Moreover
the United Nations Development programme views good governance as the
exercise of economic, political, and administrative authority to manage a
countrys affairs at all levels. It comprises mechanisms, processes and institutions
through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal
*Corrosponding Author
Lecturer in Law, Bangladesh University of Business & Technology (BUBT)

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1229

rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. So, understanding
good governance and practicing it in the individuals area of activity may
contribute to the well being of the people of a developing country like
Bangladesh. This paper strives to through some light on some aspect of
governance in Bangladesh, where major intervention may be required for
accelerating the pace of development.

Objective
In Bangladesh, Good Governance and human rights are widely debated
and discussed issues during recent years.
The main objective of this article is to focus on the necessity of and efforts
to be given to achieve good governance in Bangladesh as well as this article has
made attempts to focus on conceptual understanding of rule of law, good
governance and human rights with reference to legal and institutional
frameworks in which they operate. The situation of Bangladesh has been
undertaken as case study. Moreover, The young trainees of the BCS
Administration cadre are the future administrator of the country. Eventually they
will have to face the challenges of the 21st century to lead the country to
development. They will be involved in policy formulation for the development and
its implementation and as propeople administrators they will have to deliver the
fruits of development at the doorstep of the people. So, they should have a clear
idea what good governance is in the context of the perennial problem of
mismanagement in Bangladesh. The concept of good governance is highlighted
in part 1 while the feature of poor governance in Bangladesh is analyzed in part
11 of the paper. Part 111 deals with the experiences of other countries and part IV
contains the recommendations.

Methodology
This study would be based among other, on primary sources such as books,
articles, journals, case materials, Internet sources, so that the analysis is taken with
a multiplinary approach by keeping the phase of justice method and socioeconomic variables in considerations,
Moreover, the study was so designed as to generate data with maximum
reliability in the context of financial and other limitations such time and
administrative back up.
Combining both formal and informal methods of investigation, our field
research was conducted over a period of couple of months. While quantitative
data are necessary to determine the prevalence of a phenomenon. It is the
qualitative study that reveals the complexities. The former is more external in
nature. In addition, to mitigate the challenges of this article we mainly depended
on the brainstorming discussions among the concern authorities, the different
research works and relevant publications, which is available in the BUBTs Library.
we also used the secondary data published in different esteemed and widely
read periodicals and journals.

Good Governance
Perhaps the most basic and important principle of good governance is
that a nation's political institutions be democratic. In the words of Abraham
Lincoln, democracy is a form of government "of the people, by the people, and
for the people." This means that the rights and principles of democratic
government can and should be universally applied. They are not a uniquely
American invention. The right of every person to speak freely about his
government is a basic human right to overcome bad governance even by a
elected government by the party, for the politician and nothing for the people.

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Poor governance is reflected in the inefficient management of the

economy which eventually leads to the occurrences of very high level of
corruption for which the country is identified as number one corrupt country of
the world by Transparency International for five successive years (2001-2005). A
nexus among corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, rent-seekers and police forces
aggravated the situation further. The adjective before governance indicates
some characteristics, which enable us to understand good governance, they are:

(a) Accountability and transparency in Administration: In the context of

organizations, accountability is the obligation of a subordinate individual

or institution to answer to his or its supervising individual or institution for the
performance about the responsibility assigned in tune with the authority
delegated to him or it. Thus accountability is the combination of
responsibility, authority and resource. Again, transparency is a positive
approach to problem solving. In this approach, the bureaucrats, politicians
and the beneficiary share the concern for solving a particular problem. If a
scientific issue cannot be solved, it is possible to convince the client as to
why it cannot be done. Similarly when transparency is practiced, no
climate of confusion or misunderstanding prevails. So there are little
prospects for suspicion, friction or confrontation. For a committed
administrator, accountability and transparency are the moral issues.

(b) Independent judicial system: For upholding the constitution and protecting

human rights the judicial system should remain independent. The

independence of judicial system also implies the substantive
independence, personal independence, collective independence and
internal independence of the judicial offices. When a judicial system can
executive power without any social or political pressure, without any threat
from the external peoples and can avoid the influence of the upper
courts, it becomes independent.

(c) Freedom of thought and expression: In good governance, people are free to
think and express their thoughts, this freedom ensures their freedom of
choice and active participation of all citizens in different spheres of
development.

(d) A bureaucracy that works for public good: In good governance there exists of

a bureaucracy, which is imbued with a professional ethos and acts in

advance with the public good.

(e) A rule of law: When the rule of law guides the people and ensures equal
production of law for all citizens, it forms good governance.

(f) A strong civil society: It has been taken as an axiom that the achievement of
good governance is possible though an arrangement of strong civil
society. As we move towards the 21st century, global changes information
flow; technology, economy and education are forcing government
around the world of to redefine their roles and their relationship with
citizens and the private sector. As this transformation occurs, the role of a
strong civil society helps to ensure good governance.

(g) Sustainable

development: Poor governance stifles and impedes

development. In countries like Bangladesh where there is corruption, poor
control of public funds, lack of accountability, abuses of human rights and
excessive military influence, development inevitably suffers Development
cannot flourish where people cannot participate in governance, human
rights are not respected, information does not flow, and civil society and
the judiciary are weak. UNDP and the World Bank, among others, have

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come to realize that development assistance that focuses only on

economic governance at the expense of democratic governance fails. It
is a process of change in which the exploration of resources, the direction
of investment, the orientation of technological development and
institutional changes are made consistent with future as well as present
needs.
1. It is one of the principal components, which cover all the other
components of good governance as described before. If sustainable
development is to occur, a predictable and transparent framework of
rules and institution for the conduct of private and public business must
exist. For the private sector, the requirement is that the framework be clear,
applied even handedly and that the intentions of governments are
predictable.
2. Good governance also implies a democratic structure, human rights
assurance and freedom of the media. Democratic structure is built on a
set of specific values. Democracy always demands openness in every
activity and thought of administrators. It creates and natures those values
that meet public good or welfare. The essential democratic values are
equity, the public interest, accountability, transparency, and
responsiveness, the rule of law, integrity, impersonality and toleration.
Unless these values are intern used and practiced by the administrators,
policy makers and the citizenry good governance cannot be truly
installed. This values ensure human rights and these can be established
through the freedom of media.
3. A landmark study by the World Bank, Assessing Aid - What Works, What
Doesn't and Why (1998), demonstrated the crucial role that good
governance plays in enhancing the effectiveness of aid. The study found
that where there is sound country management, an additional one per
cent of GDP in aid translates into a one per cent decline in poverty and a
similar decline in infant mortality - whereas in a weak policy and
management environment aid has much less impact. Findings like this
clearly indicate that the 'returns' from development assistance are
generally greater in developing countries characterized by good
governance. One element of good governance that is needed for
sustained development is an economy that operates in an ethical,
accountable and appropriately regulated environment, which facilitates
competition in the marketplace. Without this, there will be no driver for
economic growth and sustainable development will not be possible. On
the contrary, poor governance is characterized by the following elements:
(a) Arbitrary policy making system: The system never allows peoples participation
or theyre right to choose what they actively need.
(b) Unaccountable bureaucracy: Accountability can never be found in poor
governance. These types of governance remain obscure to the people
and do not have any urge of doing public good.
(c) Un enforced or unjust legal system: If justice is delayed, justice is also denied.
These types of legal system can never offer a remedy to the aggrieved
person rather it exasperates and creates unrest in the society.
(d) The abuse of political power: In poor governance the political leaders always
interfere in matters where they are not supposed to do so. Thus the
management and development process is hindered.

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(e) No bridge between the civil society and the public like: the civil society
remains indifferent to the public interest. So people cannot expect any
thing from the civil society and lose their respect gradually.
(f) Corruption is not primarily a problem of bad people, but is an outcome of a
bad system, which prevails, in poor governance. It is a state of poor
governance where citizens are unable or unwilling to do anything, which
does not bring them gratification. It amounts to the betrayal of public trust
for individual or group again. A corrupt government does not have the
moral commitments to action, symbols and institution, which benefit the
common welfare.
4. Good governance, Bangladesh perspective: the main object of this paper
is to focus on the necessity of good governance in Bangladesh. We have
to overcome the problems and achieve good governance. We have
some limitations too. So at first, we will discuss the limitations that hinder the
development process in Bangladesh and obstruct our way to achieve
good governance.
5. Bangladesh as a nation state appeared on the world map in 1971. During
its history, Bangladesh has not only painfully witnessed extreme poverty,
natural disasters, famine and deaths, but has also experienced every
conceivable from of class domination, class exploitation, policy
contradiction, political instability and military intervention in the politics.
Some of the main features of the poor governance in Bangladesh are the
following: (a) Lack of political skills and leadership crisis in Bangladesh- A Major Impediment
Towards good governance:
6. Scholars who have studied military regimes have nearly reached a
consensus that if political development is defined in terms of popular
participation and the building of legitimized political institutions, for most of
the new states that came under military rule the period of military rule was
sterile insofar as political development is concerned. The primary resources
for developing political institution in any country are the political skills of its
politicians. The political skills needed for developing a viable and selfsustaining political system involves, among others, ideological
commitment, the capacity to respond to new challenges, and the arts of
administration, negotiation, representation, and bargaining. These skills
can be acquired only in the hard school of public life. In case of military
janta rule, the military severely restrict the free flow of the political process
and force would be a politician into a long period of liberation. The period
of military rule is usually a total wastes as far as the development of
political skills is concerned. The opportunity for gaining political skills by the
people once under a military regime is likely to be continual postponed
with the arrival of every new military regime.
7. The citizens of Bangladesh at this juncture of the countries history deserve
good governance for more than one reason. Because an authoritarian
regime has been forced to quit power as a result of mass upsurge and
organized protests. During nine years of dictatorial rule which was
sometimes given the garb of democracy, the economy was literally
ruined, productivity, efficiency and moral of public servants reached its
lowest ebb, indiscipline and corruption in public life obtained wide
acceptance and misuse of public office and state power for personal and
coterie interests increased. So the people were not only interested to
dialogue the dictator but also to demolish what he stood for and the
system he developed to private the state resources and personnel. The

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people naturally aspired for a new system of governance a system that

would allow meaningful popular participation at all levels, protect their
fundamental rights and rid the nation from the curse of mismanagement
and corruption. At present, though Bangladesh is experiencing and being
sand whished in between the tensions and egos of the two major political
parties. Yet it has been successfully able to practice peaceful transfer of
power from autocracy to democracy and from an outgoing political party
to incoming newly elected political party. Nevertheless the successful
introduction of the caretaker government concept in the constitutional
history of the world, arrest, trile, sending to jail of the deposed dictator on
various charges, means that in future the chief executive would be held
accountable for their action even after their departure from power.
(b) Lack of political Accountability;
8. Political accountability is an essential precondition for the functioning of a
democratic system. It entails that those holding elected political offices of
the state must be accountable to the citizens for all their actions. It also
necessitates that there should be appropriate checks and balance within
the political system, so that no branch of the government dominates and
control others. Political accountability in Bangladesh has been shaped by
following factors:
(i) Dominate executive: Political institution building in Bangladesh over the years
unmistakably indicate a growing trend to strengthen and consolidate all
power in the office of the chief executive. In many occasions, the Prime
Minister is requested to solve the minor issues and pleasing PM seems to be
obligatory for the butter-seeker admirers.
(ii) Weak Legislater: One of the consequences of the attempts to concentrate
enormous power in the hands of the chief the chief executive over the
years has resulted in the gradual and systematic weakening of the position
of the parliament. A number of factors have, however, considerably
weakened the parliaments control over the executive. These are: - The inexperience of the majority of the legislators.
The reluctance of the government to subject itself of its plans to debate
The tendency of the opposition to oppose for the sake of opposition
Uncertainties concerning appropriate procedures resulting in part from the
absence of institutional traditions.
Some fairly sharp differences between the two largest parties on major
symbolic issues although there is seemingly few differences on abstantive
programmed issues.
9. Failure to form parliamentary committees in due time is a common scenario
in the constitutional history of Bangladesh. If it achieves but it fails to work.
It is ironic that on many occasions when discussions take place on issues
of national importance the Prime Minister, her cabinate, colleagues and
senior opposition MPs including the leader of the opposition have been
conspicuous by their absence.
(C) Nature and Character of Political Parties:
10. One of the major problems of political accountability can be attributed
to the nature and character of political parties. Political parties have
significantly contributed to the political decay in the country. They have
not been able to lead and guide people at different crucial juncture.
These are the opportunist nature of the leadership, fragmentation of
political parties into smaller faction groups, the promotion and
perpetuation of personality cults, failure to develop clear and cohesive
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socio-economic
programs,
unstable
membership,
lack
of
organizational discipline and democratic practice. This situation
resulted in political parties building and cashing on the images of a big
leader rather than formulating and implementing socio-economic
programs. The four major political parties continue to depend almost
exclusively on the charisma of their leaders. This situation has
contributed to selection of leaders on the basis of heredity,
perpetuation of undemocratic practices within political parties and
frustrating affords to build leadership from within party. Frustration
further rises when we see little qualitative changes take places in
democratic governance since 1990.
(d) Lack of effective and efficient Judiciary:
11

(e)

An effective and efficient judicial system is a primary requirement for

establishing the rule of law in society. Again the rule of law must be
considered as an important dimension for sustainable democracy,
accountable
administration
and
equitable
development.
In
Bangladesh, the judicial system inflicted with some fundamental and
procedural problems.

Lack of credibility of the electoral system:

12

The electoral system of Bangladesh is struggling for its image because it

encompasses rigging and manipulation in almost all the elections local,
sub-national and national held between 1973 and 1990 with the
knowledge and blessing of the government in power. People still throw
big question on it.

(f) Transparency, Freedom of Expression and other human rights:

13. From the preamble of the peoples Republic of Bangladesh, it may be
quoted. That it shall be a fundamental aim of the state to realize
through the democratic process a socialist society free from exploitation
a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and
freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be
secured for all citizens. For sustainable pluralistic democratic system
and for the sake of good governance political freedom, free flow and
information, freedom of information, freedom of expression, freedom of
assembly and movement are pre-requisite conditions. Rule of law and
various forms of human rights are written in our constitution, but far away
to execute rather curbing efforts are vividly visible.
14. Effective institutions and good corporate governance are needed to
support the development of a competitive private sector. In particular,
for markets to function, social norms are needed that respect contract
and property rights. Transparency of all government actions is also
achieved through free flow of information and freedom of expression.
Information gets transmitted to the people through printed and
electronic media and freedom of expression is also ventilated through
these mediums beside others. To ensure both freedoms of mass media is
essential. Though significance changes have taken place but still certain
black laws and regulations and government control over the medial
services hinder free flow of information and freedom of expression.
(g) Lack Bureaucratic Accountability
15. Bureaucratic accountability is possible only when political accountability is
ensured. In Bangladesh, as in may other countries, civil servants are
made accountable for their actions through two mechanisms.
Internal Mechanism

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Internal mechanisms in Bangladesh are based on hierarchy and include

such components as requirements of disposal of files, inspection, supervision and
ACR.
External Mechanism
External mechanisms for ensuring bureaucratic accountability in
Bangladesh include specific actions of the executive and legislature, the rule of
the judiciary the press and citizens groups. Unfortunately bureaucrats are not so
much accountable in Bangladesh. A bureaucrat may be corrupt as well as in
efficient and still he/she may get promotion.
(h) Absence of advocacy role of civil society ensuring the good governance:
16. In general, organizations and institutions are accountable to those who will
be affected by decisions or actions. Accountability is a key requirement
of good governance. Not only governmental institutions but also the
private sector and civil society organizations must be accountable to the
public and to their institutional stakeholders. The citizen groups have not
been able to play and significant role in influencing public policies and
shaping behavior and actions of civil servants. Even the advocacy role of
citizens groups has mostly been limited to holding meetings and
organizing seminars with no follow up actions to determine the impact
and recommendations emanating from such gatherings on civil servant.
(i) Lack of accommodation of bureaucrats in the political literature
17. Bureaucrats are always treated as counterparts in Bangladesh by
politicians. Bureaucrats are imaged as clownish Amla. In the politicians
circle bureaucrats are always treated as necessary evil. So, absence of
trustworthy working relation between the two mighty characters of State
Drama, good governance may always be shy subject.
(j)On Combating Corruption in Government:
18. A most crucial prerequisite of good governance anywhere in the world is
the minimization of corruption in the Government machinery. Otherwise,
the very moral basis of Government as leader and final arbitrator in the
affairs of a country would quickly disappear. Good governance also
means combating corruptions, and countries cannot be considered
having good governance, if they are corrupt. To preserve the integrity of
democracy, governments must strive to rid themselves of corruptions and
bribery. Corruption destroys economic foundations, impedes the ability of
developing countries to attract foreign investment. Corruption hinders
the growth of democratic institutions, and concentrates power in the
hands of a few having money and muscle. Unfortunately, over the years
we have witnessed only a continuous increase in corruption in our
country another depressing aspects of our corruption is that wealth
acquired through corruption has generally found its way out of the
country, buttressing perhaps the economics of countries other than that
of Bangladesh, and whatever remained here went into anti productive
channel following the principle of easy come, easy go. Every chance of
Government, no doubt, brought down the corruption level somewhat,
but perhaps within six months of a year matters tended to slide back to
the past levels and even surpass these.
19. Good governance requires that governments invest in their people and
work to preserve the welfare of their citizens, without regard to gender,
race or religion. Governments should invest in health care, nutrition,
housing, education, and poverty elevation. They should ensure an

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economic environment where people can find jobs and establish

business enterprises.
Local government is such type of institution, which can play fruitful role in
creating political leadership, ensuring popular participation, developing
accountable administration and planning, and implementing people oriented
development program. Though rural communities account for the bulk of the
population, yet there is no effective local government with the capacity and
resources to provide the with public services. Moreover, many centrally provided
services are select in their coverage and do not reach the poor. On the other
hand, A World Bank booklet cogently summarized the major symptoms of poor
governance. These are:
1. Failure to make a clear separation between what is public and what is
private hence a tendency to direct public resources for private gain;
2. Failure to establish a predictable framework of law and government
behavior conducive to development or arbitrariness in the application of
rules and laws;
3.Executive rules, regulations, licensing requirements and so froth, which
impede, functioning of markets and encourage rent seeking;
4. Priorities, inconsistent with development, resulting in a misallocation of
resources;
5.Excessively narrowly based or non-transparent decision making. The other
symptoms of poor governance are "excessive costs, poor service to the
public and failure to achieve the aims of policy (The British Council, 1991).
(l) Corruption- One of the major impediment towards good governance;
20. The following simple framework provides a useful tool to both identify
causes of corruption as well as combat it; - Where C stands for corruption,
M for monopoly, D for discretion. A for accountability and
for public
sector salaries. Corruption thrives where there is discretion and monopoly,
accountability is weak and public servants are poorly paid. The main
causes of public corruption in Bangladesh include this factors and a few
other;
(a) The nature of the regulatory environment.
(b) The influence of powerful business interest.
(c) Low salaries for public servants.
(d) The self-sustaining cycle of corruption.
In public sector the amount of loss caused by corruption is about Tk.
18,000cr.which is told to us through CAG of course the exact figure is much higher
than this one. Few examples are;
(a) Electricity- if the entrepreneur wants a speedy (within a week) connection
he pays of Tk. 150,000 for a high tention line Tk. 10,000to Tk. 15,000for a low
tention line.
(b) Gas- the average waiting period is 3 months and the official fee is Tk.
3,000. To get a gas line connected in a week cost Tk.40,000.
(c) Water- the average time required for getting the connection is 3 to 4
months. Pay offs come to Tk. 14,000-Tk. 20,000 to be connected within a
week.
(d) Telephone- the average time to wait here is 10 to 12 years. (iii) Other
countries, their achievements;

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Good Governance and Development

21. When we talk about good governance we infact refer to the working
relation among the three organs of the state and actions of the
executive branch of the state. In operational terms these refer to
enjoyment of fundamental human rights, independence of judiciary,
abiding by the rule of law, policy based administrative dispension,
transparency, accountability, predictability, effectiveness and efficiency
of the government.
Realizing the difficulties of define good governance the overwhelming tendency
has been to delineate aspects of good governance. The Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) has highlighted several aspects of good governance.
Some of these include:
the promotion of democracy and open pluralistic societies;
the Strengthening of transparent, accountable, efficient and effective
national and local government;
the promotion of respect for human right;
the reinforcement of rule of law, including fair and accessible legal and
judicial systems;
the promotion of independent media and the dissemination of
information;
anti-corruption
expenditure.

initiatives;

and

efforts

to

reduce

excessive

military

Actually there is no complete and universal recognized satisfactory definition of

good governance. In this respect we should discussed the 5 elements of good
governance for better and comprehensive idea of good governance.
In this connection we can take a closer look to the development process of some
other countries of this continent. In Japan stress in laid on bureaucracy and
industrial management. Whereas Malaysia concentrates on administrative
improvement, institution restructuring, personal management and so on.
Indonesia has become a model of poverty alleviation for the developing
countries. Historically, the bureaucracy in Japan has always played a central role
in the shaping and directing of the nations public affairs a parameter of good
governance. The executive was virtually supreme in authority and unlimited in its
power in the pre-second world war period and in no way was it made
accountable to the Diet (the parliament of Japan). The bureaucracy there
exercise virtually supports authority responsible and loyal to the Emperor only. The
judiciary was too weak to perform the functions of cheeks and balance. The
authority of the civil service not subject to any democratic control was awesome.
The task of transforming feudal Japan into modern nation state fell primarily
enlargely on the soldiers of the bureaucracy. The defeat of Japan in the Second
World War brought about far-reaching changes in all walks of life including its
institutions. The occupation authorities, which virtually ruled Japan from 1945 till
1952, either dismounted or redesigned the major institution of the state but,
surprisingly, left the bureaucracy unharmed. The civil service, the military and the
zaibatsui (the large industrial company in Japan) were not only retained but were
also made the agency for implementing the policies and programmes of the
Allied authorities.
22. Transparency is the free flow of information that how a decision is taken
and how the decision is enforced. The information about the processes
and institutions are directly accessible to those who will be affected by
such decisions and their enforcement and the information should be
enough and in easily understandable forms to understand and monitor

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them. In case of Malaysia the highly efficient, responsive and ethically

motivated civil service ensure the countries economic progress. The
countries political leadership recognized the critical development role of
an efficient bureaucracy and took several initiatives over the last decade.
To reform its civil service, in 1986, Malaysia set up a panel of administrative
Improvements to the administrative reforms. In addition, it established the
administrative Modernization and Management Planning Unit (AMMPU) in
the MPs office to opertionalise reform and monitor implementation. The
establishment of these two administrative organs enabled a more
systematic co- ordinated and effective approach in identifying,
implementation and monitoring administrative improvements. These
include;
(a) Industrial Restructuring: a framework was public and private sectors act in
union as business partner forging ahead in a comparative global market.
(b) Incorporated penal: chaired by chief secretary, comprising agencies like
ministry of International tread, which holds regular meetings with private
sector to identify and discuss problem.
(c) Personnel Management: Includes new salary system which links salary
system to performance, establishment of critical services group with its own
incentive system to attract and retain highly qualified staff in short supply.
(d) Productivity and Quality management: To make the civil service more
customer oriented, a total quality management programme has been
introduced comprising Prime Ministers Quality award, quality suggestion
system for civil servant to suggest improvement in quality service, quality
process system that requires an agency to identify the ways of providing
an output, quality inspection system to ensure agencys complains with set
standard quality slogan like customer comes first. Quality Feedback system
that develop mechanism to monitor customer satisfaction. Quality day to
celebrate success and set up new standard for the future. Quality
information system provides for customer information through issue of
pamphlets.
(e) Improvement of counter services in the Government Department a major
improvement programs was initiated comprising proper selection of
counter staff, recognition plaques for high performing staff, department
mottos and slogans, quiting system, computer on line system, directional
sign and sign boards.
(f) Accountability and Financial Management Improvement: Action to
improve accountability includes batter management of Govt. assets,
through new categorization and definition of Govt. assets and new form
for record keeping, establishment of an expenditure control unite/public
accounts committee. Improvement to the financial Management
information, Modified Budgeting system.
23. Agricultural development in the last 28 years has strongly helped faster
balance of growth in the Indonesian economy. Agricultural sector has
been highly diversified and rural economy transformed. As a result, recent
income, employment and labor productivity of the community have
increased, national status of average rural people has improved, and the
magnitude of rural poverty has declined. In short agricultural growth has
laid the foundation of rural growth. Much of the credit for the growth of
agriculture is attributed to Govts realistic agricultural policy. The Govt. of
Indonesia directly influences agriculture through an extensive set of
investment polices, research and extension, pricing policy marketing and

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Good Governance and Development

1239

trade regulation. The Agriculture Ministry of Indonesia applies some

approval to improve job efficiency of agricultural personnel.
24. Many of the recent ideas and concepts of 'good governance' and 'civil
society' in Bangladesh have been generated by the international aid
agencies and their 'good governance' policy agenda in the 1990s, but
there are also local meanings to the terms derived from the independence
struggle and the construction of a Bangladeshi state. To make government
batter and cost effective, which would ensure good governance, the
following are the goals to be materialized:
(a) Smaller but stronger government which will be accountable and
transparent and will play the rules of a facilitator
(b) Streamlining the budget process
(c) Decentralizing personnel policy
(d) Streamlining procurement
(e) Eliminating regulatory over skill
(f)

Giving customer a voice of choice

(g) Making service organizations complete

(h) Creating market dynamics
(i) Creating quality leadership and management
(j)

Streamlining management control

(k)

Improving regulatory systems

(l)

Espirit de crops must be needed

(m) Making the promotional agencies more accountable, efficient and

responsive
(n) Improving co-ordination and decision making within key ministries
(o) Consolidating the legal framework for local government
(p) Overhauling the rules and process by which government conducts its
policy and decision making
(q) Maintaining an efficient, committed and professional public service
(r)

Establishing the time-tested parliamentary practice of accountable

ministers

(s)
(t)

Strengthening the system of standing committees

Separating the audit from the accounting function

(u) Establishing an Ombudsman office

(v) Establishing link between budget allocation and out puts
25. By the end of his life, Adam Smith was no longer looking to the invisible
hand to guide society to the conditions necessary for a constructive
classical liberal state. Instead, he called upon the visible hand of moral
leadership from all individual and especially, statement, to create those
conditions, and thereby that society.
26. However, Smith had made an unintended mistake revised his theory of
moral, sentiments after 30 years. By that time the invisible hand was in firm
control of the market at this stage we have to listen to the concept of his
visible hand for a better tomorrow.
27. The fundamental rights and the standard of living of Bangladeshi citizens
will be enhanced through good governance. But one has to remember
the rule that no good governance no democracy. Governments that
govern rationally with the commitment of good governance become

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Mohammad Bulbul Ahmed

1240

democratic and get support for their reform efforts from their people as
well as from the democratic world Governance in Bangladesh to be rated,
as Good Governance has to ensure the following things:
(a) Performance audit appraisal system should be introduced in Taxcollecting and other departments.
(b) Administrative neutrality should be protected.
(c) Rules of business should be amended giving more administrative and
financial powers to departments and corporations.
(d) Institutional of sub-divisional office should be revived at Thana level and
he should lead the Thana Parishad. This was the structure till 1980. This
would make the union parishad more accountable.
(e) Institution of Deputy Commissioner should be strengthen and DCs should
be selected on the basis of merit and quality only.
(f) Some principle should apply in the selection of SPs.There must be some
civilian control over the SPs and OCs.
(g) Public servants should be trained adequately in administrative ethics.
(h) There should be a vision for a patriotic and incorruptible bureaucracy.
(i) Nationalism and religious values should be protected.
(j)

NGO programmes should be closely monitored and they should be

allowed to play only a supplementary role.

(k) Poverty alleviation programmes like Grameen Bank model should be

encouraged.
(l) Project performance should be closely monitored and evaluated
persistently.
(m) Education should be given top most priority so as to achieve 80% literacy
by 2005.
(n) Separation of investigating authority like police. It should be placed under
judicial authority.
(o) Orientation courses must be introduced for the legislator.
(p) Rule of law should be applied strictly irrespective of political allegiance,
castes creed and regions.
(q) Instead of Participation Demand culture Bangladesh needs Participation
Share culture for the ultimate goal of Good Governance.
28. Governance is the process of decision-making and the process of
implementing that decision through different institutions in the
management of the resource endowment of the state. Governance can
be used in several contexts, such as corporate governance, international
governance, national governance and local governance. Government is
one of the actors in governance and other actors involve in governance
vary depending on the level of government But the true glory of the nation
lies in its ability to assert its identity and express the will of people through
the pattern of good governance. A new system characterized by an
accountable government at the top and independent judicial system,
freedom of thought and expression and freedom of choice for its citizens
will be ensured through out the country.
29. Bangladesh opted to a parliamentary democracy following
independence in 1971 in which establishment of a sovereign legislature
was sought. The main thrust was to ensure the sovereignty of the people
exercised through a democratically elected representative body called
the legislature. In today's parliamentary system, most of the works related

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Good Governance and Development

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branch of the government headed by a Primminister, who is accountable

to the parliament. The parliament is supposed to exercise control over the
government through legislative business, for which the government has to
rely on parliamentary approval. Besides, ministers including the Prime
Minister are answerable to the parliament for their actions. The
fundamental rights and the standard of living of Bangladeshi citizens will be
enhanced through good governance. There fore, the parliament has
significant role to improve the quality of governance.

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