Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the top government officials to keep more vigil on corruption so that this menace does not affect the country’s development in any way.

“We’ll never tolerate this [corruption], all will be held responsible for their own duties, and all will have to perform their duties properly. All must keep it in mind that development must not be affected in any way because of graft,” she said.

The PM was addressing a function at her office yesterday marking the signing of the Annual Performance Agreement (APA) of ministries and their subordinate bodies.

She asked the senior secretaries and secretaries to various ministries and divisions to give directives to their colleagues on graft and make them aware in this regard.

Hasina said Bangladesh is currently formulating its annual budget with its own resources. “To resist corruption, there should be the practice of virtuousness... you have to take steps so that people can reap the good results through the state.”

The PM also said it would be very regretful if every achievement of the government, which comes through hard work round the clock, went in vain just because of corruption.

“When it comes to corruption, I’ll say those who would take bribe are not the only offenders, but also those who would give bribe.”

The country is moving fast towards progress as there is an increased pace in government activities with better skills and attention to jobs due to the APA, the PM added.

She said the government has taken steps to diminish the red tape culture. It also put emphasis on bringing more dynamism into public offices.

About Bangladesh’s achieving the status of a developing country, Hasina said it has already achieved the three criteria needed to attain the status. “But we want to go far beyond that; we’ve to work with that vision...we’ve to take up programmes considering that.”

She mentioned that the government would be able to implement the SDGs as it implemented the MDGs.

The PM stressed the need for formulating a masterplan to save farmland, environment and nature alongside continuing the development activities.

“Development activities have to be carried out in a planned way...there should be a masterplan for the development and all activities must be in line with that masterplan.”

State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain, Principal Secretary to the PM Nojibur Rahman, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam and Power Division Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus also spoke at the programme.

The senior secretaries and secretaries in charge of various ministries and divisions handed over a copy of their respective APA to the PM.

The cabinet secretary, on behalf of the PM, signed the APA.

Under the agreement, the ministries ascertain vision, mission and strategic goals in line with the development priorities of the government, undertake short- and long-term plans as per budgetary allocations.

The new APA is prepared considering the Vision 2021 projects committed by the PM, SDGs, Seventh Fifth Year Plan and projects under Public-Private Partnership initiative.

The government introduced the APA method in 2014-2015 fiscal year for the public sector to ensure institutional transparency, accountability, proper utilisation of resources, and above all, enhancing institutional efficiency.

The government has signed the APA with the ministries and their subordinate bodies, including divisional, district and upazila level offices of the government.