THE extravagant expenditure of public money for the amusement of public servants is recklessly going on as the audit mechanisms of the government are inoperative. The lavishness of public officials in wasting public money has become worrisome and frustrating because of the government’s loose control over the bureaucracy. The government itself is rather providing indulgence in lavish luxuries at public costs. A national daily reported that the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday ordered the state-run gas companies not to host any annual general meeting at expensive venues. Against the backdrop, the order is a welcoming note to check the reckless wasting of public money in the country.
The commission chairman AR Khan issued the order while Gas Transmission Company Ltd is trying to raise the wheeling charge of gas by 134.37 percent. The order came up when transmission company officials informed that they spent several lakh takas a year to host the company’s annual general meeting. Experts opined that expenditures like these contribute to the rise of cost of service in energy sector whose burden falls on these consumers. It has been alleged that the state-run companies in the energy sector have spent too much in different heads including hosting annual general meetings, purchasing expensive cars , foreign trips and etc.
The government’s luxurious expenditure trend could be found in each and every ministry, and in the government as a whole. Empirically, there is no mechanism of accountability and audit control in government offices and everyone seems beyond any liability. For example, every year many of our ministers, MPs, secretaries, government, semi-government and public sector officials, trade and cultural delegations and sports teams etc. go abroad. But there is no complete and comprehensive report or information available in Finance Ministry or Bangladesh Bank as to how many of them went abroad and what amount of money was spent from the public exchequer.
The colossal expenditure of the government offices on foreign trips, staying in luxurious suite, arranging meetings at costly hotels or purchasing latest vehicles for public officers spending from the public exchequer of a poor country whose annual budget is always in deficit could not be acceptable. We strongly feel that for the sake of accountability and transparency of public money, government may publish a half yearly statement ministry-wise for the period from January to June and July to December in the interest of public service.
In the present case, the commission’s feelings about public money and sense of responsibility is an exemplary event in our state mechanism, when indulging in corruption is becoming a system and laundering public money is not an offence. Public offices should follow the example which may help in establishing accountability and transparency of public money expenditures.
