Administrative Imbalance in Bangladesh Leads to Overworked Officials and Widespread Underemployment

Bangladesh’s public administration is currently grappling with a severe structural imbalance characterized by a surplus of high-ranking officials alongside widespread professional stagnation and an intensifying crisis of trust. With approximately 1,500 officials occupying only 502 joint secretary positions, the bureaucracy is suffering from both chronic overstaffing and a concentration of power in the hands of a few “trusted” individuals.

This administrative bottleneck has resulted in roughly 650 officials being placed on Officer on Special Duty (OSD) status, meaning they remain on the payroll without assigned responsibilities. Many others are relegated to peripheral roles with minimal duties, contributing to a culture of inefficiency. Conversely, select officials are burdened with multiple high-stakes portfolios, a situation experts attribute to deep-seated political polarization and the government’s struggle to identify loyal personnel.

The current trend of multiple-appointment is prevalent across key ministries. For instance, Humayun Kabir, an additional secretary at the Cabinet Division, currently manages three distinct departments, including the Field Administration and the Committee and Economic wings. Similarly, Mohammad Khaled Hasan oversees three wings—Blue Economy, Coordination, and Reform—within the same division. Other officials, such as additional secretaries Tahmina Yasmin, Manzur Alam Prodhan, and Suaiya Akhatar Jahan, are also managing multiple portfolios across various departments, including Energy and Mineral Resources and Local Government.

Critics and administrative experts argue that this concentration of responsibilities compromises operational efficiency. Former Secretary and Rector of the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), A.K.M. Abdul Awal Majumdar, noted that the trend of assigning multiple roles to a single official severely hampers work speed and delays the implementation of government decisions. He stated that governments prioritize political alignment over merit, often filling sensitive positions with those perceived as ideologically compatible.

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The roots of this instability are often traced back to the politicization of the civil service. The recently formed Public Administration Reform Commission underscored in its report that years of systemic politicization have eroded the service’s neutrality, accountability, and public-oriented character. The commission noted that incompetence and inefficiency have rendered the existing system ill-equipped to meet the requirements of a functional democratic state.

The volatility has been further exacerbated by recent personnel purges. On July 28, the government forcibly retired 32 joint secretaries who held influential positions, including those of District Commissioners (DC) and returning officers during the controversial 2018 general election under the previous Awami League administration. Such moves have led to a perception that the current administration is purging officials aligned with the previous regime while struggling to redistribute power among those remaining.

Despite the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) electoral manifesto promise that merit would be the sole criterion for recruitment, promotion, and transfers, the reality on the ground reflects a continued cycle of political appointments. As the administration faces mounting pressure to deliver public services, officials warn that until the cycle of patronage is broken and merit-based appointments are restored, the bureaucracy will remain hampered by a lack of both capacity and institutional integrity.