Reshuffles of the cabinet in parliamentary democracy are a necessary part of training for politicians who mean to govern. When ministers are shifted from one department to another, it is a sign that having gained experience in one area they are now expected to demonstrate a similar feat in another. It is part of the political process in nations basing their politics on the Westminster system.
With a new cabinet in charge of governmental affairs in Bangladesh, it is expected that those entrusted with their responsibilities will demonstrate the necessary acumen that will mark them out as individuals who can and will provide constructive leadership to the country.
A good number of ministers in the old cabinet are not there anymore, their places taken over by new people. We have new ministers in education, finance, foreign affairs, environment and climate, besides others. The new education minister, having been a deputy to his predecessor, has an enormous responsibility to fulfil.
Dipu Moni has gone from education to social welfare; a portfolio that encompasses a vast area calling for a guarantee of public well-being. Former foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali, now in charge of finance, has the onerous responsibility of righting the country’s economy, especially in light of the worries over dwindling foreign exchange reserves and dealings with global lending organizations.
With Hasan Mahmud taking charge of foreign affairs, the nation will expect an increased level of dynamism to be injected into its diplomacy. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, at environment and climate, has proved his competence in the subject, having spoken on it for Bangladesh abroad, and will be expected to improve on his record. At information and broadcasting, Mohammad Ali Arafat should be an articulate presence in terms of relations with the media.
The country will keep careful watch on the performance of the new cabinet, for these are times when Bangladesh will be put to severe tests in terms of its place in the global scheme of things. It is only to be expected that all the ministers and ministers of state will demonstrate high degrees of efficiency in their jobs and will perform to public satisfaction.
For the prime minister, the task will be one of constantly examining the manner in which the ministers carry out their responsibilities. Added to that is the idea of the reshuffles she will need to undertake over the next five years -- and five years is, relatively speaking, a long time for a government to prove its mettle in handling national affairs.
And that is where the question of reshuffles comes in. Every reshuffle is an encouraging sign of governmental dynamism, of the fact that cabinet positions are a serious affair and can only be ignored at peril to the position of those who are part of the team.
Reshuffles are also a time-honoured means of winnowing under-performing or non-performing ministers out of the cabinet, the better to give the structure a lean and healthy look. Cabinets ought not to be fat or flabby affairs, consumed by weight that will have little of the energetic about them.
An important aspect of cabinet government relates to ministers sticking to policy statements or expressions of views on the remit they have. For the prime minister, it is important to ensure that ministers, in their public statements, do not trespass into areas that are clearly those for their colleagues to handle.
At the same time, the nation will not be too keen to see ministers appear on a regular basis at seminars and conferences and before the media but will expect them to perform with diligence in office, on a professional basis. Ministers will be expected to formulate policy, through heading enlightened teams at the ministries, and convince the country that it is in good hands.
The prime minister, in addition to presiding over the council of ministers, has a team of advisors around her. Since many of these advisors have responsibilities over subjects that are already among the portfolios of ministers, a statement of clarity is called for. Will the work of the ministers overlap with that of the advisors?
How do the advisors in such areas as international affairs, education, and energy, for instance, interact with the ministers holding cabinet responsibility in these very fields? Ministers are elected lawmakers and as such have the mandate of the people in carrying out their responsibilities. Given such realities, where does the work of the advisors begin and where does it end?
There are areas of governmental activity which will need readjustment or reinvention. Decisions arrived at by the cabinet should be intimated to the media not by a bureaucrat but be the job of the prime minister’s press wing. Likewise, ministers, rather than being regularly accessible to the press, should set up or empower their press departments to inform the country of important decisions or moves they may undertake.
In other words, ministerial briefings, unless they are too important to be left to their media wings, ought to be conveyed to the country through officially appointed media personnel.
A fundamental task for cabinet government is to keep the parliamentary opposition briefed on issues of critical importance for the country. Separately, ministers must be fully prepared to answer lawmakers’ queries in parliament as well as appear before parliamentary standing committees when asked to do so.
Government is or should be a throbbing, thriving enterprise. Which is why the parliamentary form of government leaves the scope wide for improvements in the quality of ministerial performance, through periodic reshuffles as also through thorough debate and discussions at meetings of the cabinet.
Ministers are expected to liaise with the civil servants under them, and be briefed by the latter on the details of the portfolios they will deal with. Ministers not only must master the subjects they will handle but also engage in introducing innovative ideas to their work, in the public interest.
In cabinet government, ministers are individuals who exercise independent judgement in the areas they cover, but that independence then meshes in with collegial responsibility under the leadership of the prime minister.
It remains for the prime minister, fountainhead of the nation’s civil, military and political administration, to ensure that ministers are on the correct path. Where there are lapses, there is the prime ministerial option of a dismissal of ministers or a placing of ministers away from their departments into new ministries.
Syed Badrul Ahsan is Consultant Editor, Dhaka Tribune.