THE last two years of the Awami League government have been a mixed bag of hopes and dashed expectations. It is true that no one takes the aposhheen netri seriously when she heaps ludicrous allegations like economic stagnation and "selling" of the country to a "foreign power" upon the incumbent government. But when she talks about the rent seeking of the student and the youth wings of the Awami League, inability of the government to control the price of essentials, the stagnation in the ministries, she will certainly come across some consenting nods. That too, from people who have not been known to be admirers of the BNP.

It would be rash to dismiss these consenters as anti-Awami League. Some have always been silently with the Awami League and are not coming out in open condemnation lest it hurts this government, but they are unhappy with the arrogance that has characterised it.

It is a tradition in developing countries for people to quickly become disillusioned with every government they elect, because expectations are high and the government's capabilities are, to a large extent, countervailed by the various forces and lobbies that fester within the organisation — a kind of supra gov-

ernment. Therefore, in most of these elections, the incumbency factor kicks-in. But exceptions like the recent Bihar elections in India are beginning to happen, and have shown what even a slight improvement in governance is able to achieve.

Today's voters are not all emotion. They will certainly speak their minds through the polls, and it will be a report-card of what the government was able to achieve in its five years. In order that all the gains that the AL has made for the country are not reversed when the next government comes in, it may be wise for the party to take steps in the following areas.

Corruption: This cabinet can boast of being the cleanest since 1972. Corruption has been an integral part of the society in any poor country, and it would be impractical to wish it away. If we are just able to limit it to a tolerable level over the next 3 years we will have done a fine job. Let us not worry about stopping corruption at the paan-biri shop level. If the economy continues to grow at 7% to 8 % over the next decade, corruption will face resistance that the system itself will generate.

Fortunately, the voter registration card has laid the first brick for revolutionary changes, including reduction of corruption,

and the government could take advantage of that. Stopping ministerial scale corruption in the next three years will give this government an image that no other government has achieved since independence.

Food situation: Unfortunately, the government is being held hostage by the syndicates when it comes to controlling prices of essentials. It will be doing itself a favour if it does not fall into the trap of false assurances given by the trading community. It should also do two things that essentially go against the vein of free enterprise, but if it wants to ensure basic necessities to the poor, as has been promised in the manifesto, there is no other option.

This is easily achievable because Bangladesh is no longer in a desperate foreign exchange situation. It should recast and revive the TCB as a procurement office supplying to a string of ration shops in the major population centres, which will sell four basic food commodities and act as a backup for private food shops and bazaars.

Bureaucracy: There is some truth when the government complains that the bureaucracy has put stumbling blocks in the way of many efforts it has made and which had necessitated the large-scale promotions

announced recently. However, the instinctive tendency of the bureaucracy is to erect impediments and create complications in order to consolidate their own power, and the new breed of promotees cannot be expected to behave much differently. Therefore, they must be given a clear message about the consequences of foot-dragging over an order already cleared by the government, and their performance will have to be measured every six months.

Guaranteed work: There is still time left to implement this election pledge and score points. For the first few years the project may be riddled by corruption but, if checked at the higher levels, it cannot become debilitating. It can be turned into a fairly corruption-free tool if the MPs are kept out of the process because the upazilla chairman is at least answerable to his people.

The new recruits can be given temporary assignments as volunteers for doing a myriad of jobs (for instance ten thousand people could be employed in Dhaka as a traffic brigade for issuing traffic violation tickets). As a bonus, the traffic situation will also improve considerably when people know that they will have to pay heavily for violations.

Power: The gap between demand and power generation will never be bridged. As soon as generation capacity is increased, new demands will outpace generation. The government should set up an effective information mechanism to let the public know how effectively it is tackling the situation.

Syndicates: It seems as if the government is being held at gunpoint by various syndicates. Syndicates are not always a special group entrenched over a few generations. Even the stu-

dent and youth wings of the party seem to be able to hold the government hostage. If the government acts with strong resolve for the public good and disbands just one of these lobbies, it will find out how easily lobbies can melt away.

Fundamentalism: Anyone who argues that fundamentalism is not a threat to Bangladesh needs only to look at Pakistan. The near meltdown of that country today is the direct result of the Islamisation process started in 1977 by Ziaul Haque. The Sharif and Bhutto governments were too scared to do anything while Musharraf was as sympathetic as Zia was. And it was not the mushroom growth of madrassas alone, it was also the introduction in their school textbooks of a hate content and superiority content, and unnecessary emphasis on religion.

Twenty years later, the youth who strap grenades to their bodies and blow themselves up draw their inspiration from the message of intolerance that these textbooks preach. School curriculum should be modified to teach human rights as well as the tolerance of other ethnicities and religions, and must have content which talks about the synergetic characteristic of Bangladesh.

Local government elections: Despite suffering a few reverses here and there, elections in the local governments will be beneficial to the AL. They should be held as it will strengthen democratic institutions.

The opposition: The government should permit them to vent out their angst in the next couple of days and pretty soon their hartals will sputter into oblivion as they really do not have an issue that will fire public indignation and anger.

Z. Tariq All is a social worker and an adviser to the Liberation War Museum.