The rise of Islamic militancy in the country is the manifestation of poor governance. Not only the donors, but also the common people of the country have a similar view on ensuring the accountability of the government functionaries. The government now needs to do some soulsearching and be serious in addressing the problem of governance. Like the donors, the media and civil society should also mount pressure on the government to improve governance.****

BANGLADESH scored the lowest marks among 209 low income countries in 2004 in the World Bank's governance situation survey. The survey report titled "Bangladesh PRSP Forum Economic Update: Recent Developments and Future Perspectives" has been submitted to the government. The survey was conducted on the basis of six indicators of the governance issue: voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption.

These indicators, that covered 209 low income countries across the world, showed lowest ranking of Bangladesh in four of the six indicators and second lowest in the two others. The rating of Bangladesh on political stability was 11.7, for regulatory quality 13.3, for rule of law 22.2, and for control of corruption 10.3 -- all of which were lowest.

Bangladesh, however, did somewhat better for government effectiveness in which rating was 26.4 and for voice and accountability, rating 28.6. "improved governance is essential for the success of Bangladesh's economy and poverty reduction, and none of Bangladesh's major development partners will be able to sustain its support if the government does not squarely address the governance agenda" reads the report.

A three-day meeting with the

donor agencies was held in November in Dhaka to discuss how the donors will contribute to the implementation of the PRSP. The meeting with the donors was styled as PRSP implementation Forum instead of the previous Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) as the donor agencies have decided that their development assistance will now be based on the PRSP. The Local Consultative Group (LCG), a forum of the country's bilateral and multilateral donors also made a number of recommendations for reforms in few programs of the PRSP which included the governance issue. The donors Joint Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) was prepared in the light of the PRSP. The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japan and the Department for international Development (DFiD) of the United Kingdom (UK) have prepared the joint country assistance strategy (CAS) for Bangladesh for 2005-08 to harmonise their development support activities.

Corruption is perceived to be most acute in Bangladesh and it has again been crowned as the top corrupt state in the world for the fifth consecutive year. The local consultative group suggested inclusion of a number of specific measures in the PRSP document to get rid of confrontational politics, corruption, and law and order, which are the outcome of poor governance. The PRSP, however, observed that the problem of corruption and poor governance lied largely in the fact that certain strategic sectors, particularly the police, judiciary and transport remain largely unreformed. The PRSP, first of its kind in Bangladesh, is framed to serve as a strategic tool for combating the country's pervasive poverty. There is no denying that all pervading corruption resulting from poor governance is the major impediment to our economic growth and poverty reduction.

The World Bank has cancelled

and demanded refund of Tk 6.8 crore from three projects on the ground of corruption. Praful C Patel, vice president of the World Bank for South Asia region on November 17 came down heavily on the government for its failure in curbing massive corruption, terrorism, lack of justice and misgovernance for which the country is known in the world. He said that if the government fails to curb corruption and violence and to bring about transparency and accountability in governance, it would be very difficult for the donors to continue assistance to Bangladesh. Though the donors' findings in respect of massive corruption and poor governance in the country are nothing new, this is for the first time the government received a stern warning from a very high quarter. World Bank president Dr. Paul Wolfowitz also called for improvement of governance in Bangladesh for faster poverty reduction and economic growth. He made the observation during a meeting with Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman in Washington in September.

The international development partners of Bangladesh, in their two-day meeting held in Washington in February also expressed their serious concern over poor governance, deterioration of laws and order and corruption. The issue of poor governance in Bangladesh that dominated the agenda of the Washington meeting does not require any elaboration. The whole mechanism of governance in the country has been vitiated owing to lack of accountability and transparency. The Public Expenditure Review Commission (RERC) headed by M. Hafizuddin Khan detected hundreds of irregularities in public expenditure and waste of funds. The PERC also categorically reported that the parliamentary standing committees have been failed to ensure accountability and transparency in public expenditure and to remove corruption from

the state organs. inefficiency coupled with ever increasing corruption in most of the government departments is no doubt the consequence of lack of transparency and accountability in the mechanism of governance.

Not only the donor agencies but also those holding very respectable state position, are also vocal about corruption and poor governance in the country. President iajuddin Ahamed said corruption, inefficiency and poor governance hindering economic growth. "Because of these reasons, we are not getting expected results in poverty alleviation despite all-out efforts, " said the president while speaking as chief guest at the launching ceremony of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and industry's "Vision-2021 for a Prosperous Bangladesh" at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre on September 25.

Chief Justice J R Mudassir Hossain has said that good governance is an extension of the principle of the rule of law. He opined: "A society is well governed when there is a rule of law, not the rule of a man or woman." The Chief Justice said this on December 10, at the discussion session organized by the Bureau of Human Rights Bangladesh in observance of the 57th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium. But those who were at the helm of country's administration from time to time have failed to achieve the goals of good governance.

one of the main themes of the modern concept of good governance is the separation of judiciary from the executive. in a judgment the Supreme Court directed the government to separate judiciary from the executive. The law minister opined that the Supreme Court has no legislative power for issuing such directive to the government. But both india and Pakistan, from whom Bangladesh inherited the congruent system of judiciary and executive, have already separated the same. The rule of law is a cardinal phenomenon to good governance, which has been tainted with the increasing number of extra judicial killing by the RAB.

Access to information is another vital factor for achieving the goals of good governance, which promote transparency and public accountability in the working of government functionaries. open governance associated with strong anticorruption focus and rule of law, encourages foreign direct investment as the investors have more confidence in the transparent and accountable system.

The task of improving governance calls for concordant efforts both from the government and the opposition. Strengthening accountability and ensuring transparency are two major components for improving governance. Appointment of a sector-wise ombudsman, cancellation of the official Secrecy Act for ensuring free flow of information, and creation of massive awareness among the people against corruption are very crucial to ensure accountability and transparency in governance.

"The greatest of all evil is the weak government, " said Benjamin Disraeli, who was the British premier for two terms in 1868 and 1874. This saying is most appropriate for a country like Bangladesh. Good governance is what every citizen in the country craves. But over the last two decades, the people of this country have witnessed a large and increasing divergence in governance, which has doubled corruption, collapsed rule of law, and smashed political stability. Lack of good governance has impeded the sustained growth of democracy and poverty alleviation.

The rise of islamic militancy in the country is the manifestation of poor governance. Not only the donors, but also the common people of the country have a similar view on ensuring the accountability of the government functionaries. The government now needs to do some soul-searching and be serious in addressing the problem of governance. Like the donors, the media and civil society should also mount pressure on the government to improve governance.

ANM Nurul Haque is a columnist for The Daily Star.