All expenses paid: MP, aide going abroad to inspect road equipment
Bizarrely, a lawmaker with her personal assistant and Roads and Highways Department chief engineer and an additional chief engineer are going to the US and Canada to inspect equipment like pothole repair machines before they are shipped to Bangladesh.
JP lawmaker of a reserved seat for women Rowshan Ara Mannan, also the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on road transport and bridges ministry, apparently has no technical knowledge to inspect the items purchased. According to her biography on the parliament website, she has a master's degree in arts.
Iqbal bin Matin, her personal secretary, will accompany her.
The others going on the trip are: RHD Chief Engineer AKM Manir Hossain Pathan and its Additional Chief Engineer (Mechanical Wing) Rafiqul Islam, according to an official order issued on September 15.
Both are pretty high up the pecking order in the department to be inspecting equipment like pothole repair machines and crack sealing machines.
"This is a clear example of an almost institutionalisation of the project implementation culture in the country by which foreign visits are treated as an opportunity for personal benefits rather than serving the public interest," Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said.
He said a parliamentary standing committee member has nothing to do with procurement like this and in fact, the inclusion of the chairperson of the committee is contradictory to her core mandate of holding the relevant ministry or department to account.
"Nor does her PS have anything to do with the purpose of the visit," he added.
It is also questionable whether and to what extent the job profile of the other two members of the team -- additional chief engineer and chief engineer -- are relevant to the core content and purpose of the visit, especially when they have hardly any possibility of being involved in actual operation and maintenance of the equipment involved, he told The Daily Star yesterday.
If the key purpose of a visit like this is that the knowledge to be gained will be applied at work, the composition of the team can be hardly justified, he added.
Amid criticism and as an austerity measure, the government in July last year imposed restrictions on foreign trips. It said the money could only be spent on emergencies and unavoidable circumstances.
The finance ministry on September 19 relaxed some provisions regarding foreign trips of government officials. But the circular categorically said that "officials concerned with technical knowledge" would be allowed to visit abroad for inspecting goods or services with the suppliers or contractors or consultants footing the bill.
RHD sources said the date for their visit was yet to be finalised but the supplier is paying for their trip.
They said the ministry nominated the team members for the trip in the project titled "Procurement of equipment and machineries for construction, repair and maintenance for road infrastructure", a Tk 585.88 crore project being implemented with foreign funds.
A top RHD official said pre-shipment inspection of such machines is purely a technical matter and people with technical knowledge should carry those out.
"A lawmaker, especially a chair of a parliamentary standing committee, can go abroad to take part in policy-level matters. But such a visit [as the one planned for Rowshan] by a lawmaker is unexpected and unfortunate too," the official told this correspondent wishing not to be named.
ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, secretary of the road transport and highways division, said Speaker of parliament has approved her visit.
"As a chairman of the parliamentary body, she used to monitor work [of the ministry] and thus she will make the visit to oversee work," he told The Daily Star yesterday.
On her PS's visit, he said, "As a senior person, her PS will accompany her."
Asked if making such visits spending contractor's money was not contradictory to the standing committee's mandate for ensuring accountability, he said, "She will cross-check whether the work was done properly. Besides, we can't prevent a lawmaker if he or she wants to go."
Contacted, Rowshan said her visit does not go against their mandate and it was not an issue of conflict of interest. "As a chairman of the standing committee, I will take part in pre-shipment training there."
Asked about her PS going with her, she said, "I am over 60 years old. He will accompany me to assist me including writing my speeches."
"If the countries, where we will visit, and the contractor, who will bear all expenses, allow us, I don't find any problem here," she told The Daily Star last night, adding that the trip was not finalised yet as the prime minister was abroad.