Digitalisation can eliminate corruption: State Minister

Ensuring 100% digitalisation across all government offices can completely eliminate corruption in the country, State Minister for Public Administration Md Abdul Bari said on Tuesday.

“Direct interaction between people is the main breeding ground for corruption. If all government services can be delivered digitally, as in other developed countries, citizens will not need to visit government offices, making it easier to build a corruption-free society,” he said.

The state minister made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled “Competency Framework and Digital Competency and Assessment Framework (DigCAF)” at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital.

The Ministry of Public Administration, Government Employee Management System (GEMS) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) jointly organised the seminar to brief government officials on the DigCAF framework for assessing their digital skills and to gather feedback from stakeholders.

Bari said the country’s institutions had deteriorated due to 15 years of misgovernance and that the present government was working to rebuild them.

He said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was firmly committed to serving the people and had undertaken various development and welfare initiatives, including farmer cards, family cards, health cards and social safety-net programmes, for the development of marginalised people.

“There is no alternative to digital systems to ensure these services reach people transparently,” he said.

The state minister also said civil and criminal cases could be reduced by at least 90% if the land management system were fully digitalised.

Abdul Bari also said the processes of posting, promotion and appointment of government officials should be fully transparent.

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He said integrity, dedication and competence were being given the highest priority in appointing officials ranging from assistant commissioners (land) to secretaries and director generals in the civil service.

Public Administration Secretary Md Quamruzzaman Chowdhury, who chaired the seminar, said the government could achieve its desired goals by properly applying digital knowledge and skills in the workplace and building a technology-driven modern administration.

He told the need for efficient use of digital devices and proper analysis of data to improve the quality of public services.

ICT Division Secretary Md Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan, JICA Bangladesh Chief Representative Junko Takahashi and Public Administration Ministry Additional Secretary Mohammad Monirul Islam also spoke at the seminar.

Senior officials from various ministries, divisions and government training institutions attended the daylong seminar.