I am wondering why at WMF the ability to award the bit for "transwiki-importer" is restricted so that local bureaucrats are unable to award it. At this stage one has to get a steward to award that bit, or to get a bugzilla request to be implemented on a per wiki basis so that 'crats can do it.

The "transwiki-importer" gives one permission right, and it is one that is automatically assigned to an administrator, so it seems weird that a 'crat can give an administrator right, yet cannot give a transwiki-importer. I was thinking that it is probably an archaic restriction that has neither been noticed nor updated, and I was wondering whether it was a time for a review and update.

For numbers of the smaller WMF wikis, it would seem a useful bit, especially cross-project wikis, or for importing from the xxWPs where it is determined that it is not a WP matter.

Or am I missing something historical/hysterical?

Regards, Andrew