Despite pledging to restore meritocracy in the civil service, Tarique Rahman’s BNP government has reverted to the practices of its predecessors, interim government and Awami League, with one in four top-ranking secretaries serving on contractual appointments.
At present, there are 82 officials with secretary status across the administration. Of them, 23 have been appointed on contract.
The country’s two highest-ranking civil servants – Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani, and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister ABM Abdus Sattar – are also among them.
Senior Secretary Ehsanul Haque at the Ministry of Public Administration and Senior Secretary Manzur Morshed Chowdhury at the Ministry of Home Affairs are also serving on contractual appointments. Numerous departments are similarly headed by contractual secretaries, reflecting the same approach adopted by the BNP’s predecessors.
When the Awami League government collapsed on 5 August 2024, 19 of the 85 secretaries and senior secretaries held contractual roles.
Under Muhammad Yunus’s interim administration, officials reviewed applications from 764 civil servants allegedly denied promotion or already retired between 2009 and 4 August 2024. All were granted retrospective promotions, including 119 retired officers elevated to secretary.
Most of the 754 promoted officials had retired at least a decade earlier.
Under Section 45 of the Government Service Act, the state can send any official with 25 years of service on forced retirement in the public interest without prior notice or explanation.
The interim government sent at least 16 senior secretaries and secretary-rank officers on forced retirement under this provision, yet hired at least five secretaries on contract.
Following the February election, the BNP government compulsorily retired Agriculture Secretary Emdad Ullah and maintained several secretaries as Officers on Special Duty (OSD), mirroring its predecessor.
Contractual secretaries currently serving include Election Commission Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed; National River Conservation Commission Chairman Maksumul Hakim Chowdhury; Planning Commission member Neyamat Ullah Bhuiyan; Ministry of Land Senior Secretary ASM Saleh Ahmed; Haor and Wetland Development Department DG CM Yusuf Hossain; Religious Affairs Ministry Secretary Munshi Alauddin Al Azad; Secondary and Higher Education Division Secretary Abdul Khaleque; Land Appeal Board Secretary Abdullah Al Baki; Health Services Division Secretary Kamruzzaman Chowdhury; Land Reform Board Chairman AJM Salahuddin Nagari; Ministry of Industries Secretary Abdun Naser Khan; Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority CEO SM Moeen Uddin Ahmed; Ministry of Agriculture Secretary Rafiqul I Mohammad; Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Delwar Hossain; Department of Textiles DG Abdus Sabur; Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority Executive Director Mohammad Masiur Rahman; Community Clinic Health Assistance Trust MD AKM Fazluzzoha; Bangladesh Waqf Administration Administrator Safiz Uddin Ahmed; and Press Secretary to the President Sarwar Alam.
Public administration experts warn that by continuing this politicisation, the government has abandoned its pledge of meritocracy, threatening to damage the civil service long-term and cripple policy delivery.
Following the takeover of Muhammad Yunus’s interim administration, sweeping actions saw scores of civil servants forcibly retired after being branded Awami League loyalists, while others were sidelined as Officers on Special Duty (OSD) at the Ministry of Public Administration.
Elevating officers from the 1982 batch to secretary-level roles also sparked operational stagnation; having left the service years earlier, many struggled to adapt to an administration that had undergone two decades of digital modernisation.
Officials who served during previous BNP tenures but were ousted under the Awami League are now being reinstated on lucrative contracts across key administrative posts.
Contractual appointments are not limited to the top echelons of the civil administration; they also extend across many other ranks and positions.
Senior public servants warn that these short-term political appointments severely erode accountability, as contractual hires, aware their tenure will likely last just a year, have little stake in long-term governance. Ultimately, it is the taxpayer who pays the price, they said.
Former secretary AKM Abdul Awal Majumdar plays down the figures, arguing that 23 contractual appointments among 82 secretaries is hardly cause for alarm.
He maintains that those stepping into top roles are trusted figures who either served under previous BNP administrations or maintained strong party ties.
“Among those currently in the civil service, it takes time for a new government to figure out who it can trust,” Majumdar said. “The administration has only been in office for few months. It needs more time.”
Contradicting him, Professor Sadik Hasan of Dhaka University’s Department of Public Administration views the trend as evidence of a deeper crisis, suggesting the sheer volume of contractual hires points to a severe shortage of qualified, experienced talent within the ranks.
“The government is rolling out policies and programmes for which there simply aren’t enough suitable secretaries in the existing civil service structure,” Professor Hasan noted. “That is likely driving this reliance on contractual hires.”
Majumdar dismissed fears that the BNP administration would paralyse the civil service through mass contractual appointments, insisting it would not repeat what he claimed were the systemic failures of Muhammad Yunus’s interim regime.
“The Yunus government didn’t appoint capable people – it picked staff based on whether they came from Chattogram, were his former students, or had written books about him,” Majumdar alleged. “Even Sheikh Hasina did not indulge in such irregularities. Bangladesh has never seen anything like it.”
Professor Sadik Hasan warned that parachuting retired officials into secretary-level posts on contract chokes the career progression of serving officers, stifling additional secretaries in line for elevation and stalling ranks further down.
“It severely damages administrative morale,” Professor Hasan said, adding, “Serving officers lose interest in their work when promotions dry up and performance goes unrewarded. There are also financial and status implications; they are being deprived on every front.”
To break the deadlock, Professor Hasan argued, the government must rebuild trust within the civil service by working through the existing workforce to deliver its agenda.
“If someone lacks competence, replace them,” he said. “But hunting for ‘our people’ is a recipe for disaster. Rather than looking for party loyalists, the government must treat the entire civil service as its own.”
Public administration experts caution that when merit takes a backseat to party loyalty, neutral civil servants will naturally feel compelled to align politically to survive.
Once that threshold is crossed, they warn, keeping the administration free from political interference becomes impossible.
Public Administration Minister Abdul Bari failed to respond to repeated phone calls and texts seeking comment on the contractual appointments.
