Upazila issue
The new move by the government has opened up new avenues for controversy in the management of the upazila parishad. The chairman remains as chief executive whereas the UNO becomes principal executive-- what is the difference ? This amendment will come as a bill in the next session or promulgated by ordinance not clear yet. There is no reason to believe that the government has come out of their hidden position to maintain the political string in the upazia parisad.
Fortunately, I have a little experience to work in the local government system including the upazila system when introduced in the 80's. The problem of power sharing between the chairman and the UNO was there. However, after a couple years of operation the UNO realized that the chairman is the head of the institution for policy making and he or she is there to execute . As soon as they realized this reality, they started to work under the overall control of the chairman empowered by the upazila parishad.
The problem, I could understand, was due to bureaucratic egoism and superiority complex and became a problem of adjustment and human relation. This can easily be overcome by regular training of the bureaucrats and empowerment of the elected chairman by clear government instruction and training of the elected chairman to know how to exercise their inherent power as elected persons where the public servants are subservient to them. Any kind of politicking will just kill the local self government system as a whole, and will bring in more undesirable central control in the system.
The issue of financial control and approving authority needs a fresh look. There is no reason to believe that bureaucrats are more honest than the elected representatives!
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