Five years to prove yourself: Moyeen Khan says elected leaders face greater accountability

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) Minister Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan today said serving the people is the foremost duty of an elected government.

He said elected representatives and government officials must work responsibly to meet the expectations of the people who vote for them.

He made the remarks as chief guest at a discussion marking "National Birth and Death Registration Day 2026" in the Grand Ballroom of Hotel Sonargaon in the capital on Tuesday.

The Office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration, and the Local Government Division jointly organised the programme. State Minister for LGRD Mir Shahe Alam was present as special guest.

Dr Khan said it is the duty of public representatives to carry out people's work properly, and that the government is ultimately responsible if any local government representative fails in their duties.

Drawing a distinction between civil servants and elected representatives, he said government employees can expect to serve for around 35 to 40 years once they join, while elected representatives have a tenure of only five years.

After that, they must face the people again and win re-election by proving their work. "Therefore, the importance of our work and our accountability is much greater," he said.

He said elected representatives and government officials may work through different mechanisms, but their ultimate objective should be the same: to serve the people.

"The authority entrusted to the government should be used to meet people's needs and protect their rights, not to create obstacles to public services," he said.

Referring to the suffering of ordinary people in rural areas, the minister said many people, especially those with little education, visit union parishads for days on end without getting a birth certificate.

"This situation must change," he said. "We are a government elected by the people, so looking after their convenience and inconvenience should be our main goal."

He said discussions would be held with the officials concerned to ensure birth and death registration runs smoothly and without interruption, and expressed his determination to take strict action on the matter in the future.

Dr Khan said technology alone cannot ensure quality public services, and that the people operating it must also perform their duties responsibly.

Citizens should not have to visit a union parishad repeatedly to obtain a simple birth certificate, he said, calling for greater accountability and a people-oriented approach to service delivery at the grassroots.

Terming birth and death registration crucial for effective national administration, the minister expressed concern over a significant mismatch between the country's actual population and the data in the registration database.

It is worrying that the database holds information on far more people than the country's population of around 190 million, he said, stressing the need to correct the discrepancies and make the registration system accurate and reliable.

Speaking as special guest, State Minister Mir Shahe Alam said former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, with support from UNICEF, introduced the birth and death registration system in Bangladesh in 2001, including the mother's identity alongside the father's.

He said Bangladesh currently has 24.88 crore birth registrations and 58.19 lakh death registrations, while the 2022 census recorded the country's population at around 17 crore.

He underscored the need for accurate registration to address such statistical discrepancies.

Noting that the Birth and Death Registration Information System (BDRIS) is an important foundation for implementing the "One Citizen, One ID, One Digital Wallet" initiative, he also stressed the need to raise awareness about registration at the union, ward and village levels.

He added that reintroducing the village government system could help improve the accuracy of registration at the grassroots.

Local Government Division Secretary Md Shahidul Hasan chaired the event. Among the invited guests were ICT Division Secretary Md Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan, Cabinet Division Secretary (Coordination and Reforms) Farah Shammy, European Union Delegation in Dhaka Head of Development Cooperation Dr Michal Krejza, and UNICEF Bangladesh representative Gillian Mellsop, along with officials of relevant ministries and agencies.

--