Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Convenor of Citizen’s Platform and Distinguished Fellow at CPD, said on Monday that bureaucrats now present themselves to the public in various identities, which has become problematic.
"A person who is a bureaucrat today turns into a politician tomorrow and a businessman the next day. It has become an issue that they appear before us in multiple roles," he said during the consolidation session of the Citizen's Conference 2024, titled "People-centric Reform for Good Governance: Aspirations of Disadvantaged Communities," held in the capital, on Sunday and Monday.
The two-day conference, organized by the Citizen's Platform for SDGs Bangladesh, was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bangladesh, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
“In many cases, these three roles (bureaucrat, politician, and businessman) have merged into one,” he added.
The renowned public policy analyst posed a question to the participants, asking who they believed held the most power—bureaucrats, politicians, or businessmen.
The majority answered bureaucrats.
Dr Debapriya said that bureaucrats were identified as the most powerful group in similar discussions held across different regions of Bangladesh.
Addressing issues related to local government, he proposed forming an independent commission to strengthen local governance.
“If there is an independent local government commission, the culture of dismissing elected public representatives on trivial grounds can be curbed. Such a commission could also allocate budgets for local government bodies,” he said.
Additionally, the CPD distinguished fellow recommended withdrawing the provision for using political party electoral symbols in local government elections.
