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High-ups’ wealth must be known to public

Ministers, MPs, secretaries should reveal their assets soon for good governance, says Shujan

Staff Correspondent
Tire new government should soon ask the ministers, lawmakers and secretaries of all ministries to declare their wealth statements as part of its commitment to establishing good governance in the country, Shushashoner Janney Nagorik (Shujan) said yesterday.
"We hope the prime minister will soon ask the ministers, lawmakers and secretaries to declare their wealth statements. We are waiting for it," Shujan Chairman Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said at a discussion on democracy and good governance at the Jatiya Press Club.
The government should create a separate cell in every ministry to deal with the
complaints of irregularities and also refrain from favouring partisans in business matters. It should also take necessary measures to make the parliamentary standing committees effective, he said.
Democracy is not very safe in the present form of the parliament where the ruling party has a huge majority and can pass any law it wants, he said.
Prof Muzaffer, also the chairman of TYansparency International Bangladesh, said it is very important to make space for common people to have debates on crucial national issues and put forward their proposals to the government.
It is the common people who can identify the real problems of the country, he said, adding that the ministers and the
lawmakers must communicate with them to understand the real problems.
Eminent economist Prof Rehman Sobhan said some new realities have emerged after the polls. In parliament the opposition is small In size but the matter of hope is that many new faces have made it to the cabinet.
The senior lawmakers from both the ruling party and the opposition could be given chairmanship of the parliamentary standing committees to hold the ministries accountable, he said.
Commenting that the parliament was not very effective during the tenure of the previous governments, Rehman Sobhan said the new government can introduce
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prime minister's ouestion-answer session and allocate 25 percent of the total time for the opposition in the parliament
He preferred passing primarily all the ordinances promulgated during the tenure of the caretaker government and then reviewing them one by one in the parliament
Demanding immediate formation of parliamentary standing committees, Shujan Secretary Dr Badiul Alam Majumder said a code of conduct could be framed to prevent the lawmakers from interfering in the development activities of the local government.
In the keynote paper, he suggested shortening the size of the Prime Minister's Office.
Majumder said if crackdown on criminal activities is relaxed, law and order in the country might go beyond control.
He said elections should be held to local government bodies to strengthen them and decentralise the administration.
Stressing the need for reviewing the country's constitution, he said, "Our present constitution is not fully in tune with the spirit of the Liberation Wai. The government should form a committee to review it"
Shujan also demanded autonomy of the state-run media, implementation of the women development policy, introduction of skill development programmes, setting up of industnes to create jobs and ensure food security.
Former chairman of Privatisation Commission Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, human rights activist Dr Hameeda Hossain, columnist Syed Abul Maksud, journalist Zaglul Ahmed Chowahury and former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury, amongothers, spoke.