Serving people main responsibility of elected govt: Moyeen

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Moyeen Khan said on Tuesday that serving the people is the primary responsibility of an elected government.

He said elected representatives and government officials must work responsibly to fulfil the expectations people have when they vote for a government.

The minister made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion organised on the occasion of National Birth and Death Registration Day 2026 at Hotel Sonargaon in the capital on Tuesday.

“Government officials and elected representatives have the same objective -- to serve the people. Although their methods may differ, their goal should be the same when it comes to serving the public,” he said.

Moyeen Khan said the power vested in the government must be used to serve the people, meet their needs and ensure their rights, rather than obstructing access to public services.

He stressed the importance of making birth and death registration accurate and reliable, saying there was a significant discrepancy between the country’s actual population and the number of records in the registration database.

“It is a matter of concern that the registration database contains information on far more people than the country’s population of around 19 crore,” he said, calling for measures to eliminate such discrepancies.

The minister also said technology alone could not ensure public services unless the people operating the systems acted responsibly.

“No citizen should have to visit a union parishad repeatedly just to obtain a simple birth certificate,” he said.

State Minister for Local Government Mir Shahe Alam attended the event as a special guest.

The programme was chaired by Local Government Division Secretary Md Shahidul Hasan and attended, among others, by ICT Division Secretary Md Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan, Cabinet Division Secretary (Coordination and Reform) Farah Shammi, Head of Development Cooperation at the European Union Delegation in Dhaka Dr Michal Krejza and UNICEF Bangladesh Representative Gillian Moyes.