THE Dhaka Water Supply and Sewage Authority has recently been mired in controversy, which has taken a new height as its board on November 30 approved a top-heavy organogram, amidst opposition by some board members. The DWASA management, led by the managing director Taqsem A Khan proposed the organorgram, which requires 86 per cent of its total 5,756 positions either outsourced or placed on contract. Four of the seven board members opposed the proposal on the grounds that expanding human resources would increase the operational cost and cause another round of water tariff increase. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh president, elected a board member from a professional body, placed a note of dissent against the decision of approval, noting that the decision is an imposition and undemocratically made, violating the procedural decorum of board meeting. The dissenting board members allege that the board chair has made the decision without any voting on the advice of the managing director, who is already at the centre of many unresolved corruption allegations.
This is, however, not the first time that a DWASA board member has accused the managing director of having undue influence on the board’s operations. On May 17, the then board chair levelled allegations in writing to the Local Government Division, noting that the agency’s managing director has turned it into a ‘den of corruption’. The Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Act 1996 makes a board meeting mandatory every two months, but the managing director often ignores this obligation and runs the agency at will. When the board rejected the proposal for distributing Tk 30 crore in performance bonus to employees, the managing director ignored the board’s decision and distributed the money as festival allowance. The chair also alleged that misrule and the abuse of power have become norms in everyday WASA operations. There are reportedly instances in which WASA employees were removed from the job for speaking against such misrule. People, meanwhile, continue to receive dirty, foul-smelling water or face harassment in seeking supply connections. Despite such unsatisfactory services, the agency has regularly and unjustifiably increased water tariff as many as 15 times in 2009–2022. Amidst corruption allegations, the government has decided to reward the controversial man and appointed him director for five consecutive times. Government inaction has made corruption and irregularities chronic in the agency.
Undemocratic and corrupt governance in a public agency is a serious allegation that the government must take into account, initiate a credible investigation immediately and hold any final decision about the proposed organogram. The government must also consider removing the managing director for the sake of a credible investigation. The Anti-Corruption Commission should abandon dilly-dallying the investigation of the allegations against ranking government officials. The undemocratic, corrupt organisational culture does not support the government’s claim to have zero tolerance for corruption.
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