***Those who aspire to power make promises, once, and then go about making those promises happen. But if the promises are repeated endlessly, with naturally little sign of fulfilment, there is a danger of cynicism taking over citizens'thoughts.***

THE beauty of political power lies in its ability to abjure the platitudinous and go for the concrete in terms of ensuring public welfare. Those who aspire to power make promises, once, and then go about making those promises happen. But if the promises are repeated endlessly, with naturally little sign of fulfilment, there is a danger of cynicism taking over citizens' thoughts. That is when governments get into a vulnerable state, indeed reveal themselves to be hollow shells pregnant with a mouthful of words and nothing more. Everyone then gets to be embarrassed.

Now take the recent remarks of the commerce minister about price hikes across the world. He would like us to think that there is nothing to be done about rising prices of essential commodities in Bangladesh because of the trends in prices across the globe. We do not buy that argument, for the simple reason that there is a clear, sharp difference between traders outside our frontiers and those who manipulate our markets. In the latter instance, it has always been a cartel that has made a mess of life for us.

Now listen to the finance minister. He concedes that there is a cartel but he would like everyone to cooperate with the government in running the cartel out of town. But, frankly, it is not the job of the citizen to assist the government in handling wrongdoing. The citizen did his duty through electing these powerful men and women to office. It is now their job to cleanse the country of corruption, of everything vile and venal. Why pass the responsibility on to the people?

You get all these bad tidings of what the powerful are not being able to do or have simply not done for years together. Stand

before that gigantic, almost monstrous, edifice of what you know as Nagar Bhaban in the nation's capital. You would think with such a huge administration under and around him, the mayor would be doing wonderful things to improve the quality of citizens' lives. You would be disappointed, for there are still the mosquitoes to bite you and me and everyone else.

Hundreds of people are employed at the city corporation and not one of them knows how to disinfect the streets, the slums, the water bodies and make it possible for our children not to have to study under mosquito nets once evening falls! The mayor has been in office for seven years. Who will ask him why he and his men have lost their war with the mosquitoes? Or was there a war at all?

That old matter of accountability comes up again. The crime graph shows a clear upward mobility. From petty pickpockets to robbers and murderers, every criminal element seems to feel that the law will not touch him. The home minister keeps reassuring us that law will be restored and order will be reimposed. We look the other way, for nothing happens.

The violent men of the Chhatra League increase the level of their audacity and the general secretary of the ruling party tells us they are undermining the image of the party. But aren't they also undercutting our belief in democracy through the impunity of their acts? And shouldn't they be hauled up by the scruff of the neck and put away for their crimes?

Tiirn to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, where fires have razed homes and murdered souls. In the hearts of those who have seen their dreams go up in smoke, there is a fire that can only leap higher in fury if we do nothing to reassure the adivasis that their homes and their land will be safe from here on. The government reacts indignantly to European Union concerns on the crisis. That is all very fine, but let it also make sure that the concerns the EU raises are probed all the way. Four hundred homes of the adivasis have been reduced to ashes. Obviously it was a huge group of vicious men that did it. How many of these barbarians have been hunted down?

Right now, it is time to reflect on the huge number of cases backlogs in the courts all the way up to the highest judiciary in the land. These backlogs are proof, if you ever needed proof, of the absence of justice in Bangladesh. Think of the many who have died in their quest for fair play. Think of the tens of thousands who die, drop by drop and piece by little piece, in the receding hope of salvation coming their way from

the system.

And reflect too on the venality of men out to drive the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority buses away from the roads and into the ditches. A parliamentary committee wonders why a minister not at all linked to road communication is doing everything he can to force the BRTA into abandoning the roads in the north of the country. A gang of unscrupulous private bus owners have been engaged in these foul deeds for years. Will the prime minister now reprimand that minister? Even better, must this man be a minister at all?

The mosquitoes keep buzzing. And biting.

Syed Badrul Ahsan is Editor, Current Affairs, The Daily Star. E-mail: bahsantareq@yahoo.co.uk.