Bangladesh Polls in 4 city corporations today under emergency

By Shakhawat Liton The Daily Star News, August 4, 2008 Presiding officers escorted by Ansar and police take ballot boxes and ballot papers to different polling centres in Barisal City Corporation area. The photo was taken at Barisal Election Commission office yesterday. Photo: STAR Four city corporations and nine municipalities go to polls today with the emergency power rules (EPR) back in full force. The first elections under the present military-backed caretaker administration, these are considered crucial to determining whether the all-important parliamentary polls too will be held under the state of emergency. Earlier at midnight Saturday, relaxation of the emergency curbs in election areas ceased to be in effect with the cessation of electioneering. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said the emergency rules being in place will not cause any obstacle to polling. “It will instead complement the three-tier security in place for a peaceful conduct of the polls,” he added, talking to reporters at his office. On June 20, the EC announced the polls schedules while the government relaxed the EPR to allow processions and rallies for election campaigns. According to the electoral rules, the time limit for electioneering that began on July 14 ended 32 hours before the polling opens at eight this morning. Talking to The Daily Star, noted jurist Shahdeen Malik said the EPR have got back to full mode automatically with the end of campaigning. “And that is why the government did not need to issue any circular withdrawing the relaxation of emergency rules,” he added. Against the backdrop of a debate whether a free and fair election is possible under the state of emergency, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has recently said the EPR would be eased further for the local government polls.Contacted, the home ministry officials however said they were not aware of any such plan. While some 1,600 contestants enjoyed full freedom in canvassing over the last 20 days, there will be no let-up in the emergency reins for the 13.66 lakh voters. In fact, they will go to polling stations with fundamental rights like freedom of movement, of thought and conscience, and of speech suspended for the state of emergency. Besides, the strict electoral rules will not allow any rallies or processions till August 7, meaning winners will not be able to do much in victory celebration.EC sources said the commission wanted the EPR to stay slackened until gazettes of the election results are published, but the government did not agree. Over 5,500 local and international observers will monitor the polls, widely considered a test for the EC’s preparations for the general election planned to be held in the third week of December. Political parties have long been demanding a complete withdrawal of the state of emergency before the parliamentary polls. CEC Huda yesterday expressed satisfaction with the overall election atmosphere, which he said is much better than in previous times. He said the contestants did not face any difficulties campaigning because of the relaxed state of emergency. “We hope the polls will be free and fair, and voters will elect honest and competent persons,” he said, adding that these polls will help the efforts to change the election culture for the better. The CEC will visit Manikganj municipality to observe polling there. Another election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain was already in Sylhet. Around 20,000 police and Ansar members have been deployed across four city corporations and nine municipalities so there is no obstruction in polling scheduled to continue without break till 4:00pm. Besides, a special strike force and mobile teams of police, Rab and Ansar will work to ensure security. They will be on election duty through August 7. Of 715 polling stations, 579 are for city corporations and the rest for municipalities. The authorities have identified 283 polling stations, mostly in the city areas, as vulnerable in terms of security. According to the arrangements, at least 30 law enforcers will be on duty at each of those. The stationary force yesterday completed taking position at the polling stations. The number of voters in four city corporations is over 10.93 lakh while that in nine municipalities is over 2.73 lakh. Forty-six candidates are vying for four mayoral posts, 752 for 118 councillorship, and 194 for 39 councillor posts reserved for women in Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet city corporations. Fifty-nine persons are competing for mayoral posts, 429 for 81 councillor posts, and 120 for 27 reserved women seats in Naohata, Dupchanchia, Chuadanga, Sreepur, Manikganj, Fulbaria, Shariatpur, Golapganj and Sitakunda municipalities.

Political Reform: Myth and Reality

By G. M. Quader
Daily Star News, July 23, 2008

POLITICAL reform means reform of political parties and all the political institutions connected with political practice for functioning and advancement of the political process.

The Jatiya Sangsad (JS), the Election Commission (EC), and the executive branch (EB) may be considered as political institutions. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Public Service Commission (PSC), University Grants Commission (UGC) etc., with their controlling and regulating authority of different activities concerning vital public interest may be considered political institutions.

In a democratic society the most important political institution is the political party, which is a group of people who share a common ideology and have similar views on national and international issues. This enables the people to select a person on the basis of his/her personal qualities, along with the appeal of the political party to which he/she belongs after evaluating its programs and ideology.

The party that gets the most votes forms the government, which has lots of responsibilities and has to be bestowed with power and authority to fulfill its obligations.

It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There has to be a system of checks and balances in respect of governance. The responsibility for creating this environment of accountability lies on the elected representatives who are not in government (known as opposition). In doing so they are also to ensure that the government is representing the people through its activities by reflecting their hopes and aspirations.

Political parties form the government and run it. They carry out the responsibility of the opposition to keep the government on track by ensuring accountability.

So, it is, in fact, the responsibility of the political parties to build and strengthen all the other supporting political institutions so that governance can function as smoothly and effectively as possible. For strengthening the political institutions any reform, if needed, falls within the responsibility of political parties. At the same time, sustainability of the effectiveness of political institution depends on them.

On the other hand, if the political parties do the opposite by serving their personal and party interests, the institutions could be used to create havoc for the nation. A few are given below.

During the last government it was widely believed that the EC was made partisan to the four-party alliance to frustrate the right of the people to choose their representatives as per their free will. The political stalemate created as a result is still hanging over our heads.

Rampant misuse of authority by the allegedly partisan PSC in appointing substandard candidates in different branches of administration, law enforcing agencies, judiciary etc., in line with partisan interest distorted the effectiveness of administration and made good governance difficult, not only for the present but also for the next 20 to 30 years at least.

It is alleged that people with a record of corruption and criminal charges like hijacking, extortion, vandalism etc., got appointment as law enforcers during the last alliance government.

Persons responsible for this sort of appointment would surely receive dividends from the beneficiaries of irregularities in law enforcing, judiciary etc. But the people at large have to pass sleepless nights because of insecurity and non-receipt of justice and good governance.

How the ACC was made ineffective, allegedly in order to overlook corruption by the last government, is too well known to be mentioned in detail.

As a matter of fact, even if reform measures are taken to enhance effectiveness of all other political institutions excepting political parties, the same might be jeopardised if the political parties who will run the show afterwards do not continue with them.

So, reform should begin with the reform of political parties. Without that all other reforms could become meaningless and ineffective.

Reform of political parties is the most difficult task in the context of our country. We are not comparable to any other country of the world. This country is unique because here all the political parties and political personalities themselves accepted the allegation that they were not capable of seeing national pride or interest over partisan interest. Introduction of the caretaker government (CTG) system is an example.

The system of non-partisan caretaker government was introduced for conducting free and fair elections. Political governments elected by the people hand over power to a selected non-political caretaker government after completion of their tenure. It is an accepted fact that political parties while in power do neither have the capability nor desire to conduct a free and fair election without manipulation.

Of course, introduction of the caretaker system was a pragmatic approach considering the realities. Political parties and the people by and large extended support to that concept considering the existing situation. But does not that confirm the negative character of our politics and political parties that they are incapable of sustaining democratic culture and ethics due to lack of sincerity and honesty?

The fifth parliament, on the first day of its first session, re-introduced parliamentary form of governance in a unanimous decision of all parties in the parliament. Parliamentary system means that parliament would be the centre of all governmental activities. The Member of Parliament’s (MP) role would be supreme and vital. MPs would form the government, administer, give guidance and make government accountable to people.

But, the system was introduced by clipping the MP’s right to decide independently, making the parliament virtually a rubber-stamp parliament. That has given rise to dictatorial rule by the prime minister (PM), without any accountability, thus breeding pervasive corruption.

The reason given for this was that MPs were not reliable enough and could be bought and sold, causing vulnerability of the government. The parliamentary system is based on MPs, but it was made ineffective by the assumption that MPs were dishonest. At the same time, is not it pointing fingers to the ability of our voters of electing suitable MPs, thereby raising the suspicion that people by and large are not fit enough to practice democracy?

Political parties, while in power, used and misused facilities, and opposed and boycotted parliament while out of power. Never was any initiative taken to address the said contradiction of the system.

There is no denying the fact that political parties need thorough reforms for practicing sustainable and meaningful democracy that would continue to provide people-oriented and accountable government. So far, no mentionable sign in that respect is visible. Without reform of the political parties, other reforms carried out, or in the process, will neither be useful nor permanent.

G. M. Quader is a former Member of Parliament.

Bangladesh moves closer towards Accountable Democracy

Reported by Nazrul Islam for The New Age, July 13, 2008

The military-backed government has approved in principle a package of electoral and political reforms including provisions for ‘no vote’ and mandatory registration of contesting political parties for the first time in the country’s history, officials said. No front organisations of political parties, exercise of in-house democracy and guidelines for electoral alliance are among the criteria, which were intended to bring about qualitative changes in politics and endorsed by the council of advisers Sunday.

Setting new eligibility criteria for contesting in parliamentary polls, empowering Election Commission to scrap candidature, new ceiling for election expenditure, mandatory bank account for election funds, submission of expenditure returns and guidelines for electioneering are the reforms planned for the country’s electoral system. uilty of war crimes will be barred from polls, but the draft has not elaborated on the areas of such crimes, officials said. he council of advisers at its meeting with chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair gave the approval to the reforms proposed by the Election Commission few months back.

The meeting asked the law ministry to immediately place the draft of The Representation of People Order Ordinance 2008 incorporating the reform proposals before the interim cabinet. We expect the gazette notification on the ordinance will be available sometime at the end of this month,’ Syed Fahim Munaim, press secretary to the chief adviser, told reporters after the meeting at the Chief Adviser’s Office.
The 50-page draft ordinance was prepared mainly by the Election Commission after a series of dialogue with political parties, civic groups and professional consultants for nearly a year. he commission proposes 114 sections instead of 95 in the existing Representation of People Order that came into being in 1972.

The draft ordinance proposes mandatory registration of political parties with the EC. or registration, any party must have a record of winning at least one seat in any of the parliamentary elections since the country’s independence or obtaining five per cent of total votes cast or having active units in one-third of the districts or in 100 upazilas with minimum 200 members in each. olitical parties intending to be registered would have to declare in their constitutions that they would not have front organisations of students, teachers and workers, and overseas units. ut the draft proposes that students, workers and teachers would have their rights to political activities as preserved in the constitution. he parties must have written constitutions with no contradiction with the constitution of the republic. No discrimination in terms of cast, colour and creed will be allowed.

The parties would be disqualified from getting registration in case of favouring a one-party system of government.Political parties must declare clear deadlines for keeping 33 per cent seats reserved for the women in every level of organisational committees by 2020. To promote democracy within the parties, the draft proposes that the parties’ parliamentary boards will nominate candidates for Jatiya Sangsad elections from the panel of leaders forwarded by ward or upazila level committees. If any independent lawmaker joins an unregistered political party, he or she would not be considered as a member of that party in parliament, says the proposed law.

No electoral alliance with unregistered political party will be allowed, stipulates the draft ordinance.
The security deposit for an individual to stand for election will be Tk 10,000. The deposit would be forfeited if the candidate fails to secure one-eighth of the votes cast. A candidate will be allowed to contest for three seats at a time instead of existing five constituencies.
The draft seeks to raise the ceiling for electoral expenditure for an individual candidate to Tk 15 lakh from Tk 5 lakh now.
Maximum limit of election expenditure has been set Tk 4.5 crore for a party fielding candidates for more than 200 seats, Tk 3 crore for a party with between 100 and 200 candidates, Tk 1.5 crore for less than 100 candidates and Tk 75 lakh for candidates in less than 50 constituencies. The parties must maintain separate bank accounts for operating election funds and must submit statements to the EC immediately after the polls results are published. Donation of above Tk 20,000 must be taken in cheque.Violation of expenditure limit carries a penalty of up to Tk 10 lakh, while false information may result in cancellation of candidature.Responding to a popular campaign spearheaded by various rights groups and individuals, the draft proposes introduction of ‘no vote’ system in the ballot for the first time in the country’s poll history.

This will allow a voter to put a cross mark on the top of a ballot paper if none of the candidates matches with his or her choice. If ‘no’ votes accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total ballots counted, the particular constituency will see a re-election. Any person, convicted of war crimes by any court either at home or abroad, will be disqualified from vying for election. But it has not clarified the way to determine the war criminals. Government servants will not be allowed to contest the polls within three years of retirement. Defaulting on bank loans and rescheduling those six months before filling of the nomination papers would continue to remain as disqualification as in the past. However, housing and agriculture loans have been exempted from this category.

The histrionics of an ‘uncompromising leader’

by M. Abdul Hafiz in The Daily Star - July 13, 2008

The BNP chairperson has been, through occasional pronouncements during her court appearances, understandably trying to capture the moral high ground by championing some of the burning issues of the day, although an issue such as price hike is the legacy of the last BNP rule, when, to benefit the party minions, a syndicated price rise was first experienced.

The idea is also to erase the bitter memory of her discredited governments — particularly the last one — as well as to recover the space lost in the country’s politics. Her comments would be fine but for the problem that she had seldom stood on such ground earlier. Based on the track record of her governments, morality, ethics, and compassion are apparently alien to her chemistry, and thus unknown in BNP’s political lexicon. She, however, had been fond of summoning those beholden to her, and the message contained therein was clear: Do as I say and not as I do. Yet, the BNP crowd dutifully obliged her with their obeisance.

But, once fallen from grace, there are now cracks in the BNP monolith, and the party, without the binding glue of power, has visibly crumbled. Now, to re-establish her authority over the disparate groups of the party, she has to, perforce, assume the role of an “uncompromising leader” to sweep under the carpet many of her deficiencies.

It couldn’t be more opportune for Madam Zia to indulge in an impolitic alacrity when her arch political rival Sheikh Hasina has been allowed by the government to undergo treatment abroad for her damaged ear and eye. In the meantime, the AL enjoys Hasina’s green signal for its participation in the local body elections scheduled by the EC.

Sensing that BNP, torn by intra-party wrangling, is not election-worthy at the moment, the BNP supremo found it convenient to opt out of the elections, while criticising Sheikh Hasina for “entering a compromising deal with the government” — although her party is participating in the poll in defiance of her decision. The grass-roots workers perfectly well understand that the Madam, entangled in several indictments along with her sons and cronies, is simply trying to further brighten up her image as an “uncompromising leader” at their cost.

It was perhaps for the same reason that her lofty call for unity among the political forces to fight a commonly perceived opponent was ignored. Though the call is still alive, there are few positive responses –again because of her inconsistency, Jamaat connection, hauteur, and irresistible ambition to be the only thread of scarlet in the drab fabric of politics.

In her politics of blowing hot and cold, Madam Zia is quite capable of shifting from her unity proposal to assailing Sheikh Hasina within a matter of days by drawing comparison between the latter’s present political move and 1986 political situation, where a united and revamped AL participated in parliamentary election under her leadership, although the party’s victory was hijacked by Ershad’s infamous media coup.

Even at that time, the BNP had the same image problem, emanating from rampant corruption and total break-down of the country’s internal order.

Whatever may be the motive, the interim dispensation seems to be agreeable to also grant Khaleda Zia respite and reprieve similar to those given to Sheikh Hasina, although it is understood that the state of her illness, if any, does not warrant that. But Madam Zia seems to have been cleverly exploiting the gesture to bargain for release and treatment abroad of her indicted sons by raising undue hue and cry. She threatens to throw a spanner in the political process underway and even in the forthcoming national election.

In the meantime, the madam’s complacent secretary general, whose son is reported to have enjoyed similar facilities as those of Tareque and Koko in BSMMU prison cell, is apparently fine. He has been spitting fire in defence of the honour of the Zia family, which he, like the BNP fraternity, thinks is under assault.

They all feel that the indictments leveled against the madam and her sons are aimed solely at damaging their honour. The madam even claimed that her sons couldn’t commit any wrong. She also corrected the finance adviser by reminding him that to find the halcyon days it’s enough for the people to look back to her regime.

The people, however, wonder if there is any more honour left in the Zia family for it to be capable of further damage. They also ask if the madam is conversant with history, although she is clearly endowed with quite a gift for histrionics.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.

Good Governance: Role of Individuals Vs. Institutions

Tuesday June 05 2007 12:17:34 PM BDT
Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam, Bangladesh

In the recent years, Bangladesh made some progress in many areas of economic and social development such as maintaining macroeconomic stability, growth in exports and in remittances, increase in enrolment in primary education, improvements in female’s education, reductions in infant and maternal mortality and improvement in women’s empowerment.

Yet there are growing concerns that Bangladesh’s development prospects are frustrated by bad governance. One does not need to go in the nitty gritty to understand how bad governance affected the economy. Experts tell us that two percent or more of the GDP is lost to corruption and bad governance. Bad governance results to huge loss in economic growth annually. Bad governance and corruption deter investment, waste national resources and disequate allocation and increase insecurity. Moreover, the poor suffer most from the consequences of bad governance and corruption. Amongst the major governance weakness: pervasive corruption, weak governance, absence of monitoring institutions seriously affects economic growth and poverty reduction in the country. Though the methodology used by Transparency International (TI) to measure corruption has been subject to many questions, yet holding the first position in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 5 consecutive years has tarnished the image of Bangladesh.

A. Good Governance: Rule of Law not rule of men or women

Good governance is an extension of the principle of the rule of law. Any society is well-governed when there is a rule of law, not a rule of men or woman. A modern state is extensively governed by rules, regulations and laws, by complex guidelines and instructions, restrictive, prohibitive and penal procedures. Good governance can become myth for the people when the public representatives, bureaucrats and judiciary put rules and regulations aside and start ruling by using political office for personal gains. It has often been seen in history that an elected government may not be democratic but autocratic in practice imposing dictatorship of the head of the government. This can happen even in the parliamentary form of governments. It is ironical that, the democratic world is satisfied if the adults of a country can cast their votes at a periodic interval in a festive mood. But little do they bother whether these festive periodic exercises called election (made in Bangladesh) puts the voter in a helpless coercive situation to choose muscleman or criminals nominated by party A or party B as their representative only to endorse a rule of terrors or criminals.

The basic problem of maintaining rule of law in Bangladesh is the belief of a powerful group of politicians, bureaucrats, elites, business personalities and other persons from other professions, that although all human beings are created equal, they are more than the created equals. Law and judicial systems exist for those who are less equal than them, allowing them to float above the law and the arms of the court are not long enough to reach them. This irony in the day to day affairs of Bangladesh is the breeding ground of corruption, mis-governance and mis-fortune. The search for a policy and system to combat corruption is essentially a search for a leveler, except death which will cut the size of those more-than-equals to their proper size and dimension. If corruption is to be combated, it would have to be addressed both by way of a change of mind set and a change of consequences.

B. Good Governance: People Centric Governance

The broad concept of good governance is the process of governing with maximum participation of the people. Good Governance refers to the broad set of actions that a government undertakes to ensure people centric socio-politico- economic mechanisms to function effectively. Good governance, then, arises from actions of a government which is honest, transparent, accountable, efficient, and institutionally sound. Establishing good governance in Bangladesh requires reforms of the political System, electoral system, state machinery – and institutions to monitor the governance.

Weakness in governance is most visible by rampant corruption in economic and business arena in Bangladesh . To tackle corruption, we cannot just focus on the demand side of corrupt payments; we must also combat the supply side. The government, public sector, private sector, ministers, parliament members as well as individuals were all pre dominantly involved in corrupt practices in Bangladesh. To combat corruption, we must focus on most of the infected organs of the state.

C. Good Governance: Conceptual Framework

A number of multilateral organizations (e.g. UNDP, World Bank, OECD) and bilateral organizations have emphasized on the elements of good governance and its impact on development. Multilateral organizations generally equate good governance with sound economic management based on (i) Accountability; (ii) Participation; (iii) Predictability and (iv) Transparency.

The concept of good governance has been clarified by the UN’s Commission on Human Rights and identified the key attributes of good governance as:

1.Transparency 2.Responsibility 3.Accountability 4.Participation 5.Responsiveness

However, there are some bilateral donors who are not satisfied with this narrow economic definition of good governance. They would like at least Five more elements to be included as an essential part of good governance, namely (i) Democratization; (ii) Human Rights; (iii) Rule of Law; (iv)Cuts in Military Expenditure and (v) Probity.

HUMAN DIGNITY AND HUMILIATION STUDIES (www.humiliationstudies.org/intervention/decency.php ) stated that: Syed Ahsanul Alam, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Chittagong in his article “Road Map To Good Governance - The Nine ‘I’ Model” explains that “Democracy cannot flourish in the absence of good governance.”

He explains: “The pre-condition for good governance is effective democratic institutions for democratizing the society. Improvement of the living standard of people cannot happen where people cannot participate in governance, human rights are not respected, information does not flow, and civil society and the judiciary are weak. According to him Nine criteria of good governance may be used to determine whether any country qualifies to have good governance are:

1. INDEPENDENT AND NON PARTISAN ELECTION COMMISSION

2. INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY AND THE RULE OF LAW

3. INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH

4. INDEPENDENT ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION

5. INDEPENDENT AND EFFECTIVE PARLIAMENT

6. INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

7. INDEPENDENT OMBUDSMAN SYSTEM

8. INVESTING IN THE PEOPLE

9. INVESTMENT FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT.”

[Source: http:// www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidDate=2007-02-11&hidType=EDT

http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_33979.shtml

http://www.weeklyholiday.net/2007/230307/mis.html

http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com/2007/02/road-map-to-good-governance-in.html ]

During the previous regimes Good governance in Bangladesh was far from the actual consonance of the term. There are several factors and issues that are constraining the very process of good governance. The major factors are i) corruption, ii) politicization of administration, iii) weak democratic institutions, iv) autocratic parliament, v) absence of the rule of law and vi) absence of meritocracy etc.

The ESCAP of the United Nations has emphasized for good governance, the participatory nature of the government and the rule of law. According to this definition, good governance has 8 major characteristics -”It is i) participatory, ii) consensus oriented accountable, iii) transparent, iv) responsive, v) effective, vi) efficient, vii) equitable and viii) inclusive and follows the rule of law.”

By the rule of law ESCAP means fair legal frameworks and impartial enforcement of laws by an independent judiciary and incorruptible police force.

D. Good Governance: Role of Individual Stakeholders

Everyday policy makers, professionals, business leaders, sociologist, economists and others independently generate amazing number of ideas and thoughts. The reasons that these ideas don’t come to fruition is because like-minded reformers do seldom collaborate to bring changes. There are a lot of international and domestic organizations, NGOs, government agencies, opinion leaders and others – that are all individually working on tackling corruption in a piece-meal fashion. A more comprehensive approach to address governance will be more fruitful. Corruption can be marginalized if not eliminated if all stakeholders work together in a coordinated manner against corruption.

Ideas and thoughts are ineffective if not put to actions. Unless what is thought is acted upon, such thought has no value. What is important is the commitment of all the citizens – leaders of respective fields– to take on the challenge of replacing bad governance with that of good governance and to do one’s own part to address it in a collaborative manner. Corruption, as in all affairs in society may be viewed from the two sides: a demand side and a supply side. The demand side can only be curbed by reforms of institutions, strengthened enforcement of law by a transparent judiciary. As the owner of the country all citizens are affected by bad governance everyday, and as such they should insist reforms of the legislative, executive and judicial organ of the country. The stake holders of good governance should get united to raise voice against corruption to curve the supply side. Thus the citizens will have to participate in the crusades against corruption and only moral support to the Anti Corruption Commission ( ACC) is not enough to eliminate corruption.

E. Good Governance: Role of Civil Society

Citizens face potential corruption practically at every level and every sector of life. It could be the local police, T.N.T, electricity and water authority, municipal corporation or the tax department. Government alone cannot succeed in combating corruption without the active participation of civil society and citizen action groups. Civil society is in the best position to articulate the grievances of the citizen and highlight priorities of action on corruption to governments. Civil society can serve many important roles–as observer, critic, analyst, campaigner, or protestor. It can create public awareness against corruption and mobilize citizens to fight against corruption in ways that governments cannot. Civil society can also play a strong role to organize campaigns against corruption.

Civil society organizations, Citizens’ action groups, NGOs, media, and Chambers–can play the largest role in improving governance both in the public and private sector. Chambers can be more active by organizing seminars, workshops, round tables to generate awareness against corruption and unethical business practice. Chambers can establish anti corruption cell headed by a vice president with adequate funds to establish liaison with media, anti corruption commission (ACC) and other government agencies to combat corruption and protect its members from extortion and corrupt claims. Mega chambers should formulate code of conduct for their members and put pressure on the members for compliance. Awareness regarding code of conduct for members of chambers would have trickle down effect on smaller business enterprises and so on.

NGOs can keep a pivotal role in raising awareness among the general public about the bad effect of bad governance. Most of our citizens understand that they are victims of corruption at their own level and corrupt governance affects their pocket. NGOs and other social organizations can make coordinated efforts to spread the message that corrupt governance at every level affects the economic development, impair equitable distribution of wealth, destroys social justice and degrades moral of the society. Corruption degrades the dignity of any nation. Researchers and academicians presented reports on how corruption destroyed the foundation of our economy. Mass campaign against corruption should be launched to develop public resistance against corruption and to provoke public support in favor of crusade against corruption by the Anti corruption commission (ACC). ACC should be proactive in setting the agenda and framework through which to engage civil society in the battle against corruption.

F. Good Governance: Role of Private Sector

The private sector can play a more active role in rooting out the supply side of corruption. It is painful that most businessman and citizens looks at corrupt practice as a system. According to unofficial estimates many business house just account for it on their books – as much as 10% – adding to the cost of doing business. Business leaders as well as the government should take initiatives so that local and foreign investors can set up business enterprise and function in Bangladesh without resorting to corruption and extortion. After 1/11/07 the present Anti corruption commission (ACC) visibly started a crusade against corruption which may be looked upon as a proactive move towards investment friendly governance.

Towards good governance the private sector must emphasize on internal controls and auditing mechanisms. Corporate bodies and business houses needs to set clear and enforceable policies against corrupt or unethical business practices. Business house need to periodically train middle and senior management on business ethics to ensure that standards are institutionalized throughout the organization. Business houses should change their mind-set to prefer managers having comprehensive business education with emphasis on ethics. Bangladeshi business managers can not afford to be unaware of global ethical standards for doing business.

G. Good Governance: Role of Institutions

For good governance, existing institutions need to be strengthened by laws and regulations. New regulatory institutions need to be created to address gaps in monitoring governance. Stopping political appointments in institutions like the i) Anti-Corruption Commission, ii) Human Rights Commissions, iii) Law commission, iv) Media and Press Commission, v) Ombudsman system can be a good start towards ensuring good governance. But without transparent process and expertise in law-enforcement, such commissions or agencies will remain ineffective. Another area that is easily noticeable is lack of monitoring on government spending. Ministries spend allocated funds as they see fit on political considerations rather than their economic impact. Thus the modality of investing in people goes against the interest of the mass people. Further ridiculous and deceptive is the financial reporting system. Any reporting done is often years late. An effective institution should be formulated to monitor government spending which could go a long way towards curbing irresponsible government spending on political or corrupt motives. In this regard separating the accounting function from the auditing system is now only a demand of time.

Every citizen is happy to see that the present caretaker government took steps towards independent judiciary, independent human rights commission and independent election commission. Furthermore, some institutions are taking steps to improve effectiveness and efficiency within their authority. It is also expected the present government will initiate reforms that will give greater results and fulfill aspiration of the people-the real owner of the country. It is ironical to note that yet there are no effective institutions with adequate legal authority to curb unethical business practices or to protect consumer rights.

Strong laws and regulations and timely enforcement system are needed to make sure that the investors understand the modality for operating in Bangladesh. Clearly defined laws, rules and regulations will help regain investor’s confidence to bring big investment in Bangladesh. Unexpected arbitrary changes to legal procedures without adequate notice or public opinion, created perceptions that the political regimes catered to vested interests or syndicates.

i. Good Governance: Role of Parliament:

Legislature is a fundamental component of good governance, which serves as a demonstration of pluralism, tolerance of diversity and dissent as well as a place for compromise and consensus building. The health of democracy of any nation is largely dependant on a strong and functional legislature. A government with a legislature lacking the capacity to effectively oversee the executive or influence policy cannot be deemed to be democratic or delivering good governance. The role and task of the parliament is to make laws and monitor the executive. They hold the executive organ of the government accountable through committee hearings, intervention on important national issues and making appropriate laws to sustain good governance.

The formal government is only one of the actors in good governance. Under any parliamentary system of government the parliament is another key actor for ensuring good governance.

But when the speaker becomes partisan, when Parliament Members looses their membership if they vote against anti people bills presented in the parliament by their party due to the black law like Article 70 of the constitution, presenting bill in the parliament becomes a farcical exercise. When ministers do not remain accountable even to the MPs, the parliament becomes autocratic establishing parliamentary autocracy and Prime Ministerial dictatorship frustrating the spirit of people centric accountable government.

Further when the elected opposition in the Parliament abstains from taking part in the proceedings of the Parliament, the Parliament becomes ineffective as a constitutional arrangement of scrutinizing government’s activities.

The idea that the opposition can topple a government without election is most unhelpful for democracy and democratic good governance.

ii. Good Governance: Role of Judiciary

Another characteristic of good governance is the presence of constitutional jurisdiction on the political power. Such limits include transparent, creditable and periodic elections, guarantees of Fundamental Rights, guarantees of Human Rights by an independent judiciary, which allows citizens to seek protection of their rights and redress against government actions. These limit help make government departments accountable to each other and to the people.

The last remaining bastion of the rule of law, the judiciary was not separated from the executive organ by all previous governments. The lower judiciary has degenerated into a politicized instrument of any ruling party. The upper judiciary is now being exposed to a process of creeping politicization, where judicial appointments, even at the highest level, are now made with an eye on who will be more serviceable as the head of the Caretaker Government.

Like in the United States and many other countries we must also have an effective disciplinary authority over the misconduct of the judges both in the lower judiciary and the Supreme Court. It is important that the judges should devise their own disciplinary framework. The allegation of rampant corruption in the lower judiciary is very disturbing and yet we do not find the judges themselves doing anything to redress the grievance.

The citizen wants independence of the judiciary not to make the judges indulge in corruption with impunity. Corruption in the judiciary makes mockery of the whole justice system so much needed for good governance.

In a participatory democracy it is essential that citizens have faith in their public institutions. A judiciary that is seen as fair and independent is a vital component in sustaining people’s trust and confidence in the judiciary. It is through judiciary that people truly experience the working of a democracy and good governance.

Another point to note is when a corruption scandal breaks open because of the media or a government investigation, many agencies comes forward to handle it. An independent and transparent judicial system can expeditiously bring offenders to justice regardless of their position in politics or business. Now a day in many countries court document of many cases are available online through the court and are posted for public consumption on major media websites. This sort of public flogging may create fear among people in high settings regarding corruption. No denying the fact, government, private sector, and citizens – especially the media – can eradicate corruption by playing a collaborative role.

iii. Good Governance: Role of Bureaucracy

While politicization of the bureaucracy disgustingly damaged the entire administration, another new dimension is that the senior bureaucrats themselves are now inclined to get political colour to get short and long-term benefit package. While the short-term benefit package includes good and profitable postings, rapid promotions, extension of services, etc, the long-term benefit package

of course revolves around such aspirations as induction in the party politics leading to influential positions in the cabinet or office of profits. There is no doubt that such self seeking stance on the part of the senior bureaucrats tells upon their accountability to the people. As a result, virtually all public services as well as law enforcement have become partisanized and commoditized to a point where the machinery of government has lost virtually all capacity for functioning as an instrument of public service.

iv. Good Governance: Role of Media

Bangladesh does have a very active media. The recent growth in the number of private electronic and print media outlets has increased not just the amount of information available but also its quality. Media should take a more aggressive role in investigating and exposing large scale and high profile corruption. Naming and shaming can be a very effective tactic to eradicate corruption in our country. Even in developing countries, where corruption is accepted as a necessary evil, naming and shaming tactic has been effective in recent years. In India, high profile cases uncovered and actively reported by the media have led to disgraceful dismissals of high level government officials and even criminal action against political leaders. No such example has been set by the political governments in Bangladesh in the past. But the media demonstrated ability to generate outrage among the public that can be channeled productively to control and eradicate corruption. Nobody can undermine the role and power of media in the society for establishing good governance.

However with its powerful role, even the media may get corrupted or come under undue influence. Editors and reporters must be vigilant so that corrupt and unethical journalistic practices do not undermine the power of the media. Media groups, just like professional bodies, need to set journalistic ethical standards and train their reporters adequately to ensure that they are not easily influenced by corruption. Bangladesh needs modern laws towards ethical journalism to ensure accurate reporting without undue influence or intimidation. Law need to ensure that the media acts responsibly in investigations to avoid slandering business or political leaders without adequate information or with evil motives. Also laws should be enacted to protect the media from law suits and injunctive actions from business houses and politicians who use the courts to muzzle the press. Bangladeshi media has a good reputation that needs to be fiercely protected and improved upon through training of unbiased reporting. Once the media can prove to be unbiased, it gains the ability to champion apolitical, social causes that can benefit the society at large. And in this regard establishing an independent media and press commission with broad based representation from all walks of life has become a burning issue.

v. Good Governance: Role of Educational Institutions

Teachers, trainers, professionals, educators have big responsibilities to raise voice for good governance. Teachers can implant hatred against corruptions among the students at an early age. Intermediate and secondary education can inform young minds about the importance of good governance as precondition for development. Education on critical issues like women empowerment, human rights, consumer rights, right to information, freedom of speech etc can help empower a new generation who will come forward to initiate positive reforms towards good governance.

In Bangladesh any one will be shocked to see the growing number of private universities. This is a proof to the growing demand of education. The highest demand for education has been in the Business, Law and IT schools. Students are flocking to them because they see the tremendous potential of business education and IT education in a global context. Business schools need to ensure that their students have a comprehensive business education that emphasizes business ethics and law related to the internet. Such is the case for IT education which also needs ethical and legal knowledge regarding internet related crimes. Students taking IT and computer related courses as well as BBA, MBA, MBM students need to be educated on global standards with comprehensive knowledge of social responsibility of business, business ethics, business law in order to be competitive in a global marketplace. It should be mandatory that every curriculum includes at least one course on ethics and international business law. Improvement in the quality of business education will improve entrepreneurial development and business vision of executives and entrepreneurs of Bangladesh.

vi. Good Governance: Role of Anti Corruption Commission

Good governance also means combating corruption, and countries can not be considered having good governance, if they are corrupt. To preserve the integrity of democracy, governments must strive to rid themselves of corruptions and bribery. Corruption destroys economic foundations, impedes the ability of developing countries to attract foreign investment. Corruption hinders the growth of democratic institutions, and concentrates power in the hands of a few having money and muscle. The best way to combat corruption is for governments to be open and transparent. Official Secrecy Act must not be abused. While in certain cases governments have a responsibility to retain secrecy and confidentiality regarding national security and similar issues. Strong laws against corruption and application of such laws and the actions of law enforcement agencies that work against corruption demonstrate a government’s commitment for the principle of good governance.

The general lack of political will to fight corruption during the previous governments are evident from the fact that after more than 35 years of independence only now the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is being set up. It is a bold step on the part of the present government. Unhindered corruption has the vicious effect of eroding from within all the efforts at building the democratic institutions of good governance. The people aspiration is that the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will prove to be sufficiently independent and bold to punish corruption in high places of the government. Corruption must be uprooted to help the institutions of good governance function in the way these are intended to. Because where good governance fails democracy does not also survive and where democracy is absent politicians do not rule.

vii. Good Governance: Role of Election Commission:

Independent and Non Partisan Election Commission is a precondition for free & fair participative elections to elect public representative to the parliament. Elections, however, are not the only cornerstone to democracy. Accountable leadership and fulfillment of the will of the people are essential to ensuring that elections are a means to a democratic society, not an end in themselves. It is critical that a nation’s elections be free and fair in level play ground. This means that every citizen has an equal access and opportunity to compete to become public representative. Voters must have a choice among candidates and that they have a right to information concerning those candidates. Independent election commission must ensure that voters are not put in a coercive helpless situation to choose muscleman or criminals nominated by party A or party B as their representative to the parliament to establish rule of terrors or criminals. The election commission must ensure the options for voters to reject if criminals are given nominations by casting “No” votes.

viii. Good Governance: Role of Public Service Commission :

The Public services in Bangladesh are services provided by the government to the community and include administration, police, health, education, taxation, forestry, electricity, foreign service, amongst others. The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has provisions for setting up one or more Public Service Commissions (Article 137). The Commission consists of 11 members including a Chairman. All of them are appointed by the President (Article 138). Provisions should be made so that the President of the Republic can make such appointments judiciously and piously without any interference of a political Prime Minister. If politicization of the PSC can be stopped Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) could play a vital role in recruitment, promotion, discipline, posting and transfer of government servants. This constitutional body is supposed to ensures that decisions relating to the public services sector are made in line with equity and merit.

For the first time in the history of the Public Service Commission, allegations such as document-tampering, question-paper leakage etc were raised. The integrity of the Public Service Commission has been further compromised by the politicization of its senior appointments. While the incidences of corrupt practices are proliferating beyond imagination, the law-enforcing agencies are almost helpless before the political pressure group.

Conclusion

In a developing country for good governance the fight against corruption is not easy. Bangladesh after 1/11/07 has experienced a big leap towards fighting corruption. It is expected the present caretaker government, patriot citizens and other stakeholders will be able to address the most difficult challenge – fighting corruption. Corruption is a tremendous deterrent to good governance and development, and its burden falls heaviest on the shoulders of the poor people. An effective Anti-Corruption Commission – with strong political backing, can become a credible tool to deter corruption. All concerned should help the ACC to be fully operative. If Bangladesh wants to become a country free of poverty and economically strong, where every citizen will enjoy his or her rights and a better quality life, fighting corruption is the most important need. It is the responsibility of every stakeholder to respond to this need towards corruption free, transparent, participatory good governance ensuring equity and social justice.

In Bangladesh , it is evident that the present condition of governance is not satisfactory. Many issues and problems are the barriers to ensure good governance, equity and social justice . Corruption, political interference in administration, nepotism, misuse of power, absence of rule of law, non-accountable and non-transparent government etc. are the common features of our governance. Although a lot of measures may be taken for ensuring good governance, it is high time to make our autocratic parliament a democratic one. And re-engineer the role of the dictatorial Prime Minister to a democratic one. In the interest of good governance, time has come for us to think about amending the black law(Article 70 of the constitution) to curve its abuse and free the public representatives to voice peoples aspiration in the parliament. Public opinion should be mobilized to discourage boycotting of Parliament and make the Parliament fully functional and democratic by making the speaker system a non-partisan institution.

It is also necessary to make the ministers accountable to the parliament members while discharging their executive roles to make the parliament truly democratic. Re-engineering is also required to make the MPs the key actors of the parliament instead of the ministers by making the parliamentary standing committees more powerful, effective and functional. All the standing committees of the parliament must be formed and made fully functional by the third session of any elected parliament. To ensure increased accountability and set the culture of resignation due to failure or inefficiency of ministers, legal provisions should be made so that cabinet ministers has to render resignation if no confidence motion is moved by one third members of the parliaments of which one third must be from the ruling party. It is required to make the parliament effective and functional and center of all debates. On the other hand, the opposition, civil society and social groups and organizations also have the moral obligations to help and co-operate the government in establishing good governance. But after 1/11/07 discussions are tabled that constitutional amendments are necessary to bring checks and balance of powers between the President, Prime minister and Speaker of the country. To make the parliament democratic, functional, effective measures should be taken to make the speaker panel a institution above partisan standing. Further brain storming is required whether a national security council can play a even positive role in maintaining balance of power as it is said - Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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Author Syed Ahsanul Alam is an Associate Professor of marketing at the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, & Chairman, Center for Good Governance. His recent administrative post includes Vice Rector IIBT ( Premier University), Director, Sadharan Bima Corp Treasurer USTC (SWC),., Representative of the President, USTC. He lectured widely at various business schools including University of Science & Technology, Open University, ABAC Thailand and also in Singapore. Rotarian Syed Ahsanul Alam is a well known academician, institution building personality and an activist for Good Governance. The Author may be reached at goodgovernancebd@gmail.com, Fax: 880-31-2550872

Center for Good Governance Website: www.goodgovernancebd.org

Should we go back to pre one eleven days of politics?

By Brig Gen Shamsuddin Ahmed

Yes, this is the question I would like to ask all politically conscious people other than BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami and AL hard core sympathizers whose patience seems to be wearing thin these days with the care taker government over the issues of emergency rule and holding of general election.

Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has categorically declared more than once that parliamentary election will be held in the country by the end of this year and state of emergency would be lifted before election. A former bureaucrat and a man of integrity, Mr. Fakhruddin will not stay in office even a day longer than needed which means holding a credible election and laying a solid foundation for a meaningful and genuine democratic governance system in this country.

A lot of ground work has been done and is in the process of being done to facilitate holding a fair and credible election leading up to ushering of a truly genuine democratic dispensation which our people have been in search of since our independence in 1971. You cannot have a fair election without a genuine and authentic voter list with photographs which for the first time is now being prepared. You cannot expect to have a democratically functional parliament and an elected government accountable to the people, some thing we have not had so far unless suitable ground rules are in place to ensure that educated people with impeccable credentials for public service, integrity and commitment to serve the nation can participate in parliamentary election and other nation building activities unhindered and that those who have misgoverned this country in the past and have wrongfully accumulated vast wealth and property for themselves, their family members and their cronies by abusing their power and authority and in flagrant violation of their solemn oath of office are suitably punished for their wrong doings and debarred from taking part in future elections.

The process of accountability of our tainted leaders, recovery of state wealth and property stolen by these people and freeing politics from the stranglehold of black money, muscle power and manipulation is a gigantic task which this government has taken up in right earnest. Let us allow this government to finish this task. This is absolutely essential if we as a nation are to move forward and not to go back to witness a repeat of the sham democracy of the Jatiyatabadi-Jamaat and the Awami rule. It is not difficult to understand who are at odds with this government, who have suddenly become very vocal as protagonists of human rights and rule by an elected government and who want emergency to be lifted now and general election held without further delay.

Obviously these are the same tainted politicians and their cronies who had been in and out of the government during the last sixteen years of our experiment with parliamentary democracy and who are incidentally now in and out of jail with the stigma of massive corruption charges haunting them day in and day out. They know as even a moron does that it is the emergency power rules which give this government sustenance and power in so far as the concerned government agencies have succeeded in putting behind bars some political big wigs and high profile criminals who considered themselves above law till the other day and forcing many of them to confess their guilt and cough out a portion of their huge haul of ill gotten money and which alone can swiftly and justly try and punish them and consign them to the dust bin history as political garbage. They also know full well that it is the state of emergency which has given this government the whip hand not only to rein in the political thugs but also to democratize state institutions which were thoroughly politicized and rendered ineffective by the past political governments. Hence all the clamoring and shouting for lifting of emergency.

Imagine the situation that we have been through before this government came to power. The care taker government of President Iajuddin Ahmed with the BNP- Jamaat leadership breathing down its neck would not dare deviate from the election road map scripted by BNP and was bent on holding the scheduled 22 January election, while AL was flexing its muscle to thwart the election. Had the scheduled election been held with the army remaining docile and performing their duties as ordered by the government, there would have been a blood bath and wanton destruction of public and private property across the country. But our two major political parties were the least concerned about what would have happened to this country and its people. Their leaders were only focused on how to climb back to power so that they could continue amassing wealth and property by plundering the state exchequer and destroying the democratic institutions.

That the patriotic armed forces decided to stand by the people and put their foot down to nullify all political machinations to destroy peace and harmony by lending support to the President to restore peace and order through emergency and to reconstitute the care taker government headed by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is the measure of the strength, efficiency and patriotism of the leadership of our armed forces. Extra ordinary situation like the one we had been on the verge of in January 2007 did certainly call for extra ordinary measure like declaration of emergency to deal with the situation. Nothing short of it could save this country from spilling of blood of innocent people and from total anarchy. And nothing short of it can help us achieve what we want to –punish those who have plundered our state wealth and property in the name of democracy and development and build solid infrastructures for genuine democracy and welfare of the people through meaningful democratic reforms.

Without emergency this care taker government could not have achieved what it has so far. The separation of the Judiciary from the Executive, the reconstitution of the politicized democratic institutions, the revamping of the bureaucracy and the police, the proposed legislations for creation of Supreme Judicial Commission for appointment of Supreme Court judges free from political influence and freeing the Election Commission Secretariat from the Prime Minister’s Office, proposal under consideration for creation of a National Constitutional Commission for appointment to all constitutional posts free from government control, recovery of over ten billion of ill gotten money in Bangladesh currency from corrupt politicians and their business associates, recovery of another four billion money in Bangladesh currency from corrupt Titas Gas staff now under process, hauling up of high profile political leaders including AL chief Sheikh Hasina and BNP chief Khaleda Zia on corruption and criminal charges and bringing them to justice, facing the onslaught of repeated floods followed by the Sidre cyclone and providing relief and rehabilitation to millions of affected people are no mean achievements of this government.

In vindication of emergency let me ask one simple question. Could our people ever know that a lady Prime Minister of this country presided over an administration laced with corruption so pervasive that our country was declared number one corrupt country in the world for consecutive four years while she pretended not to be knowing that her home minister, the person closest to her and her son was so corrupt that he even let off a murder in exchange for a hefty bribe running into an astronomical amount in Bangladesh currency which he has now returned to the government exchequer if there had been no emergency rule in the country?

We have been witnessing how powerful some of these political leaders are at least in terms of money as writ petitions one after another are filed for them and a long line of prominent lawyers including lawyer from distant United States of America appear for them challenging their detention, the venue of the trial, the law under which they have been prosecuted, the authority of the court trying them, the language of the notice by appropriate authority asking for submission of wealth statement, the authority of the official who signed the notice etc. I wonder if an ordinary citizen having committed a crime can have this luxury of writ petitions and delaying trial.

Let us bear with this care taker government and the emergency power which sustains the government in its anti corruption drive and its pro democracy reforms initiatives a few months more so that the government can finish the job on its hands. It will be a travesty of truth and justice if we allow those who pillaged and plundered our state wealth and property masquerading as our political leaders and social elites to go unpunished and give them a new lease of life to rule again this time with vengeance.

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Brig Gen Shamsuddin Ahmed, the writer is a freedom fighter and former Military Secretary to the President of Bangladesh E Mail : bgshamsuddin.ahmed@gmail.com

http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=191012

Campaign Volunteer Program Launched

Calling all volunteers! Gain skills in persuasion, communication and organization building. Join a movement in the ground floor. We are looking for volunteers to help with the campaign for accountable democracy in Bangladesh. If you are interested in volunteering, please send an email to volunteer@bd-democracy.org. We will get back to you immediately.Below are a list of projects that we need help with:

• Volunteer Outreach
• Media Outreach - Old and new media
• Organizational Outreach
• Bangla to English Translation

Voice of America Bangla service features the Accountable Democracy campaign

Voice of America conducted an interview with Kawser Jamal on the Campaign for Accountable Democracy in Bangladesh. You can listen to the interview here. We are grateful to VOA-Bangla service for the media coverage and request everyone to spread the message of accountable democracy in Bangladesh.

Alochona lends support to CADB

Alochona, one of the earliest and widely respected online forums has endorsed the Campaign for Accountable Democracy in Bangladesh. With a membership of over 3000 Bangladeshis around the world that includes influential professionals, academics and bureaucrats this endorsement greatly enhances CADB’s efforts. We invite all members of Alochona to sign the CADB petition.

We also invite other organizations to join the movement for accountable democracy. Please contact us to discuss next steps.

CADB featured in National Public Radio

We are starting to receive the first bits of media coverage for the CADB. Little Rock public radio released a story today on Change Bangladesh and the CADB project is mentioned as one of the prime efforts.

Click here to listen to the story and click here to read the story.