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Corruption a serious roadblock in eradicating poverty

In a country with a stark asymmetry of opportunities and ability, political power enables bending and twisting of policy, helping politicians to use political tools to grab the pot of gold. Corruption has invaded every sphere of our national life. In the lower rung of the government offices, the story of some labour leaders of the rank of class four employees turning into millionaires is really amazing.

MelAsadullah Khan
WHILE speaking at an antipoverty rally at the Bangabandhu International Convention Centre Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cautioned that none would be spared for graft practices and wrongdoings, regardless of party affiliation. Speaker of the Parliament. Advocate Abdul Hamid, who presided oxer the rally, stressed that curbing corruption and ensuring good governance were preconditions for having a poverty free society.
Paradoxically, we have too much government but too little governance. Good governance means setting targets, achieving goals and delivering results while working with checks and balances. The big talk in the country is endemic corruption in the corridors of power and business.
One reason why we are no longer shocked at the unspeakable corruption of our officials and politicians is because we are forced to talk about corruption mostly in generic terms. Businessmen who understand the nuances of corruption better than most people are forced into a conspiracy of silence that make it impossible for them to admit publicly how much they pay to build a road or bridge, set up a factory, construct a hotel or to get a loan from a bank.
Corruption has invaded the very fabric of our society, with the education sector becoming the latest victim. Knowledge today is an international commodity. As the world becomes frenetically competitive. nations realise the value of good quality' higher education. Bangladesh can only stand on a par with the rest of the world if its education system is strong.
Shockingly, most of the colleges and private universities that have sprung up in the lanes and by lanes of the capital city are supplying the type a education that is anything but quality education. Most of the high profile colleges, even in Dhaka city, are shedding their images as pnme suppliers of national talents in diflerent activities in the country'.
The reason is that neither are the students being admitted into these institutions on consideration of merit nor can one find qualified teachers who are committed to teaching in these institutions. The rot starts from the early stages of schooling and teaching
Disgust, or more correctly speaking hatred, was probably the overwhelming feeling in the past two weeks. The cause for this was the sickening spectacle of scam being unearthed with each passing day. Shocking lapses of the agencies concerned and unforgivable bad governance now see Bangladesh sliding into a distress zone, resulting in deaths, diseases and lost images.
The report published in the Prothom Alo on October 19 that 40 Bangladeshi workers, who left for Libya for work with fake Libyan visa and without the mandatory approval of Bangladesh Manpower and Employment Training Bureau (BMETB), are now in Libyan jail is highly-alarming. The report added that after detection of the scam as they landed in Tripoli airport, they were deported to Dubai to make their way back home. It was revealed that these migrant workers had to pay Tk.2 lakh each to some fraudulent man power agencies.
People really wonder if any investiga- tion was ever conducted to watch the activities of these corrupt manpower agencies and bring the culprits to book. Because none of these human monsters was ever sent to jail for the crimes they committed they could play with the lives, and loot the hard-earned savings, of gull ible rural people trying to better their life after selling their land or borrowing money.
Another report published in the Prothom Alo on October 17 indicated that some unscrupulous employment agencies in the country’ are sending workers to Saudi Arabia with fake employment vouchers and visas. Despite the fact that the Saudi Arabian government has not been recruiting any Bangladeshi workers at the moment, some 12,000 Bangladeshi workers have gone there, as the report reveals, with such fake vouchers and visas.
It was most shocking to learn that the employment agency (Maha International) extracted IT 4 lakh from each one of them by giving them false promises of employment. In the effort to eradicate poverty and curb graft the government has to stop these corrupt practices that not only exploit the poor Bangladeshi people but also tarnish the image of the government and damage the labour market abroad.
The world outside Bangladesh has changed so much with economic liberalisation jumpstarting the economies of many countries. But there is a disturbing corollary here in Bangladesh; scam, stunning apathy towards calamities on part of the administration, corruption of all sorts, rapidly deteriorating national infrastructure of schools, colleges, universities, healthcare, roads, power, railways and civic amenities, with consequent shrinking of investment climate.
One might suspect that there are men in the policy making cell of the government who are aping the distinguished scientist Sir Isaac Newton. Newton found that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. People at the helm of the administration and the politicians running state craft from the days of the previous regime seem to believe that Tf you do nothing nothing will happen to you."
That’s the reason that the law enforcement agency deployed in Nagar Bhaban
on October 19 didn't move into action even when they saw the tender dropping process being foiled by clashes resorted to by the activists of AI and Jubo League - -its youth wing. True, the past years have seen a pathetic lack of leadership and clumsy attempts to plug the breaches with whatever one can lay one's hands upon — bricks, wood, cloth or, more correctly, with high promises.
But rhetoric cannot fill the stomach. What the average person does care about is governance, the sori of governance that that would make a real difference to his life. Successive governments were unable to provide this and the trend, unfortunately, still continues, with ominous consequences for the nation and the ruling party. The prime minister spoke about curbing graft in all affairs of the state but administrative action to that end, even after passage of ten months, is appallingly missing.
There is reason to feel dismayed when people hear the ACC chief saying: "We have been made toothless and our claws are being clipped from our paws in the name of reforming laws." Echoing the ACC chief, the people also say that the slow judicial process is the main reason why corrupt officials, businessmen and some greedy politicians simply disappear instead of being publicly brought to justice.
A report published in The Daily Star on October 18 revealed that 42 out of 345 lawmakers never paid income tax on the plea that they do not have taxable income. Election Commission sources said that each of these MPs spent about Tk. 15 to 20 lakh in the last parliamentary election, and the limit for tax free income is Tk. 1,65,000.
With stunned disbelief people went through a report appearing on the same day in most of the national dailies that a lawmaker from Rajshahi, who had declared that he has less than Tk. 1 lakh as annual income and is a farmer by profession. has bought a luxury mini-van costing Tk.22 Jakh just ten months after the election.
While analysing the unhappy developments in the country, one feels that the worst pari is that there is no institutional mechanism to cross-check facts, nor is there a requirement for candidates to
declare the source of wealth, or the increase in wealth, in subsequent declarations. The adulterous cohabitation of power and pelf is conspicuous across the political spectrum. Contrast the wealth reported and wealthy lifestyles of those elected to high office. Clearly the tip of the "benami" iceberg has not even been touched.
In a country with a stark asymmetry of opportunities and ability, political power enables bending and twisting of policy, helping politicians to use political tools to grab the pot of gold. As one looks into the new trend, the corporate concept of "sleeping partner' has a whole new connotation in the political world. As long as the real incomes, wealth and funding of politicians and high-ups in the administration remain opaque, governance will continue to suffer and democracy will remain a liability in the whole spectrum of development.
Corruption has invaded every sphere of our national life. In the lower rung of the government offices, the story of some labour leaders of the rank of class four employees turning into millionaires is really amazing. A report published in the
Daily Jugantor on October 18 indicated that Salahuddin Selim, president of the Bangladesh Class Four Employees Association and M.A. Hannan, general secretary of the said Association, have amassed huge wealth and property by dubious means. Hannan uses a car costing about Tk.30 lakh, the report said, and Salahuddin has a five storey house at Goran and a Chinese restaurant at Gajipur Board Bazaar as the report revealed. Indeed we have reached a level of cohabitation where money, corruption and unethical deal-making occupy the same bed.
Increasingly, people are joining politics to make money or stay out of jail. The point is not that we can't have wealthy politicians but the question of how they earned their wealth. Politics these days resembles a profitable business rather than a public service. With the stakes getting higher, people in the country look to the present AL-led government for strength and decisiveness.
Md Asadulah Khan is a former teacher of physcs and Controller of Examinations. BUET e-mail aukhanbdggmail com