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Good governance at mercy of grafts

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Systemic corruption poses a serious challenge to the efforts to promote good governance in Bangladesh, said a report by Transparency International (TI) yesterday.
The report titled - 'The National Integrity Systems TI Country Study Report 2003' was simultaneously released from TI secretariats in Berlin, Germany and Dhaka yesterday.
Professor Muzaffer Ahmed, chief researcher of TI Bangladesh, while briefing journalists at the National Press Club yesterday, stressed that
urgent steps be taken to address the lack of laws on political party finance, poor service conditions and low salary structure for public officials.
He also noted the fact that key watchdog agencies in the country lack adequate, well-trained and skilled staff.
The creation of the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission is a positive step forward, but need to ensure a truly independent anticorruption commission with real teeth still remains, said Professor Ahmed, a trustee of TI Bangladesh. The newly appointed executive director of TI Bangladesh, Iftikhar Zaman said, "The key to the effectiveness of a commission is its financial independence, which must be ensured as evidence of government's commitment to curb corruption."
The Bureau of Anti-Corruption has been the main agency responsible for controlling corruption but its impact has been blunted as it is run out of the Prime Minister's Office and is subjected to political influence, said the Bangladesh chapter of the report.
The report calls for immediate appointment of an Ombudsman to address 'the absence of a complaints mechanism for the general public to seek redress against any mal-administration'.
It singled out politicians for lack of accountability. "Politicians give priority to personal or party interests over national interests. Once elected, political parties tend to treat government apparatus as an extension of their own political party machinery."
"There's no rules to regulate political funding for elections while
political interference in the recruitment of civil servants heightens the low esteem in which Bangladeshis hold public officials," the report said.
Peter Rooke, TI regional director for Asia-Pacific, in his comment on the report said, "It is high time that Bangladesh sign the UN Convention against Corruption, which is already signed by 106 countries."
Since the convention lays the basis for enhanced international cooperation in law enforcement, information exchange and technical assistance, it can greatly assist Bangladesh in its anti-corruption efforts, he observed.
The TI report stresses need to address extremely high levels of corruption in the police through better training and more professional career structure and service conditions. It also emphasised strengthening of the independence and professionalism of the lower judiciary.
Abdul Alim, a senior researcher of TIB, was also present at the press conference.