The Ghost in the Grain: ‘Zero Tolerance’ Minister Faces Cash-for-Jobs Allegation Close to Home

A man described as the health minister’s nephew is accused of selling jobs at a state-run drug factory in Bogura. Will a ministry that preaches accountability practise it?

There is an old Bengali saying about trying to drive out a ghost with mustard seed, only to discover that the ghost is hiding inside the mustard seed itself. It is hard to find a better description of the allegations now swirling around the Ministry of Health.

Health Minister Sardar Mohammad Sakhawat Hossain Bakul rarely misses an opportunity to declare “zero tolerance” for corruption and nepotism. Yet at the Bogura plant of Essential Drugs Company Limited (EDCL), a state-owned company under the minister’s own ministry, complainants allege that jobs have been up for sale, and that the person brokering them belongs to the minister’s family.

A factory turned job market?

Complainants say roughly 30 people were hired at the Bogura plant within a matter of days. Their claim is that merit had little to do with it; money did. At the centre of their allegations is Azizur Rahman Jion, whom they describe as the minister’s nephew.

Jion, they say, sought no post at the factory but instead arranged posts for others, for a price. A photograph circulated by the complainants purportedly shows Jion inside the plant.

If the allegations hold, the picture is stark: a public factory functioning as a marketplace, with the minister’s name as its currency.

Knew or didn’t know: neither is reassuring

The minister may say nothing was known about any of this. That is hardly a comfortable defence. If the minister knew and stayed silent, that silence amounts to tolerating abuse of power. If the minister did not know, how can a minister unaware of what is being done under the minister’s own name, inside the minister’s own ministry, be trusted to clean up an entire health sector?

Being someone’s relative is no crime. But when a family connection becomes a bargaining chip for public jobs, accountability does not stop with the relative. It extends to the person whose name is being traded.

Betraying the promise of 2024

In Bangladesh, a single government job can draw thousands of applicants. Families borrow to pay for coaching, application fees and travel to exam centres. In 2024, young people took to the streets, and many paid with their lives, demanding an end to a system rigged by connections and bribes. To them, the allegation that state jobs are being sold under a minister’s family name is not a minor administrative lapse. It is a betrayal.

Answers, not excuses

The familiar defences of “conspiracy”, “propaganda” and “politically motivated” will not make these questions go away. The public deserves to know:

1.       Will the ministry publish the advertisement, applicant list, exam results and merit list for the recent Bogura appointments?

2.       Is Azizur Rahman Jion related to the minister, and what role, if any, did Jion play in the hiring?

3.       Will the Anti-Corruption Commission or another independent body investigate the cash-for-jobs allegations?

4.       Will the disputed appointments be suspended while the investigation is under way?

“Zero tolerance” sounds powerful from a podium. Its real test is whether it applies at home. Until the ghost in the grain is driven out, no amount of speeches will convince the public that the ministry means what it says.

Health Minister Sardar Mohammad Sakhawat Hossain Bakul and EDCL authorities were contacted for comment on the allegations but did not respond.