Work at the ICT Division has had to face various setbacks over the last few months because of an alleged power-struggle between the state minister and the secretary.
The internal hostility between the two became visible to the public eye when ICT Secretary Md Nazrul Islam Khan allegedly skipped several major events where State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak had also been invited.
However, the power-struggle inside the division apparently came to an end yesterday, with Nazrul being granted a request for transfer to another ministry.
Sources inside the Information and Communication Technology Division told the Dhaka Tribune that no single programme in the past few months had seen both Palak and Nazrul in attendance together.
In June, the secretary was absent at the ICT Division’s biggest annual programme “Digital World,” even though the prime minister inaugurated the event.
Sources said Nazrul pulled strings to be able to attend a programme in the US instead of going to the Digital World event – where Palak also attended. Although Nazrul was in Dhaka when an official press conference on the event was held on May 10, he did not go to it either.
In August, Nazrul avoided another programme that launched “Puthi,” a Bangla optical character recognition (OCR) software. The event was inaugurated by Finance Minister AMA Muhith and attended by Palak.
Well placed sources in the ICT Division said both the state minister and the secretary had engaged in verbal altercations with each other at different meetings. After the secretary reportedly started skipping meetings because of the disputes, Additional Secretary Kamal Uddin Ahmed filled in Nazrul’s shoes, the sources added.
A colleague of Nazrul, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that the ICT secretary was disappointed in not being able to receive in his own hands, the “World Summit on Information Society 2014 Prize” which was awarded to Bangladesh for initiating digital services in governance sectors through the innovative use of ICT over the last few years. The award was accepted by Palak at a ceremony in Geneva’s ITU Headquarters on June 10 this year.
Nazrul reportedly held a grudge against Palak as he did not notify the secretary about the award, even though Nazrul claimed of contributing a great deal in steering the country towards a digital direction over the last five years, the colleague added.
Nazrul is also the national programme director of Access to Information Programme (a2i), which has been helping digitalise services in sectors like agriculture, education, health, civil facilities, land management, commerce and government administration.
Following this incident with the state minister, Nazrul met the premier and reportedly expressed his dissatisfaction over the whole issue.
Hinting that there was trouble within the ICT Division ranks, Nazrul told the Dhaka Tribune: “I cannot stay here anymore as lots of people are disturbing me and I also met with the prime minister and asked her to transfer me anywhere else.” Talking to the Dhaka Tribune on August 19, Nazrul, however, did not specify the reason that had prompted his transfer request.
Meanwhile, Palak – the youngest state minister in the cabinet – claimed that he had no problem with anybody in the sector.
“From my side, I can confirm you that I have no problem with anybody in the sector. I want all of their [officials] valuable experiences and good ideas for my doings,” Palak told the Dhaka Tribune over phone.
“I am only 34 years of age; it is a huge responsibility for me to lead a sector and I just want to do my best for my country’s people. We have lots of things to do for building a digital Bangladesh; there is no time to waste,” Palak added.
Meanwhile, ICT Division sources said there were allegations against Nazrul of awarding different projects to the people and organisations close to him, including NGOs where he acted as an adviser, without proper tender process and by showing single sources.
The disputes surrounding work distribution led to no new initiative being taken in the last eight months, ICT Division sources claimed.
They added that officials who protested decisions by either the secretary or the state minister were often transferred.
When asked about the allegations of nepotism and irregularities, the secretary became agitated and refused to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, on several occasions, Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui had also expressed discontent towards the popularity of Palak, who reportedly is in good terms with the prime minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
At a seminar on April 20, organised by Asia Foundation and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), Latif Siddiqui hinted at the BASIS President Shameem Ahsan, saying: “You people never come to me, you only call the younger one [Palak].”
On June 23, neither Latif Siddiqui nor Nazrul were invited to the event where the government launched a national portal for around 25,000 of its websites. Palak was the only senior-ranked official present from the Ministry of Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology.
