Once again good governance and improved corporate management have been extolled by the chairman of one of the parliamentary standing committees. Md. Tajul Islam, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) also put emphasis on proper accountability and empowerment of officials in the energy sector in order to get its acts together. So far as good governance is concerned, it is yet to come out of the rhetorical confine. All government functionaries, political leaders, intellectuals and members of the civil society have made it customary to extol its virtues but it continues to elude, with rare exception, all spheres of administration and life. The number one prerequisite for good governance to take effect is to delegate power and ensure accountability to see that the power has been exercised responsibly. The tendency here is, however, in favour of centralisation of power. Governance under the system has its limitation and executives down the order can hardly deliver because of their over reliance on the central power.
Whether it is the government administration or corporate culture, decentralisation with delegation of adequate power can make a remarkable difference in its functioning. The observation made by the chairman of the parliamentary committee on MPEMR is notable. He remarked that merely following the orders from the top does not help, there is need for developing idea and bringing about innovation. Apparently this sounds somewhat contradictory to what is practised in the official circle. Not many in the administration down the order will think out of the box and help the administration function better by taking independent decisions. It is also a fact that hardly any liberty is allowed to go extra length in order to think, let alone act, differently. If there was reward for extraordinary performance by different ministries, divisions, districts and local government units, they needed space to go about the business in as innovative a manner as they could.
If finance is at issue, the central bank is apparently constrained by undue interference. Similarly, local governments can hardly function as independently as they would like. Ministries do not allow enough room for manoeuvrability. What matters most are transparency and accountability. Autonomy of lower tiers of administration as also branches of corporate offices is dependent on responsible functioning. This is where the supervisory role of the centre has to be established. The primary criterion for good governance is integrity of character. With dishonest functionaries in position, administration is bound to suffer. Effective functioning of institutions can make here a great deal of difference to the governance-related matters. For that, meritocracy, not connections or any other extraneous considerations, should get the precedence over everything else while selecting the personnel at different levels for manning the institutions.
Now that the prime minister of the country has ranked third on the list of the cleanest leaders the world over, she reserves the right to demand a clean administration. As the government employees and officers have been drawing a decent salary with doubling their package, there is more reason for them to stay clean. If the administration does away with corrupt practices, there will hardly be any temptation to manipulate financial accounts and spending by people in key positions. If the government functionaries stay away from corrupt practices, it will pave the way for good governance.
