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NEWS ANALYSIS

Three years of an all-powerful PM

Shakhawat Liton
In the first half of her previous term as PM, Sheikh Hasina seemed to be much more sensitive to public sentiments and also careful about maintaining her cabinet's clean image. In so doing, she did not hesitate to take stern actions against two of the then state ministers for their controversial activities.
She compelled then state minister for housing and public works, Afsaruddin Ahmed Khan, to resign on February 18, 1997 for his dubious role in the forceful eviction of a slum from 40 acres of government land in the city's Bhashantek area. On August 10 the same year, Syed Abul Hossain was made to resign from his position as state minister for LGRD after his controversial visit to Singapore without the government's permission, using an ordinary passport instead of his diplomatic passport.
The forcible eviction of the slum and the state minister's Singapore visit gave rise to criticism in political circles and also in the public domain. Hasina responded to public sentiments by dropping the two from her cabinet.
These two glaring incidents were considered as the shining side of a government that had begun its journey on June 23,1996 as the then PM had honoured public sentiments by removing them from her council of ministers.
But such a strong stance on Hasina's part seemed to have gradually taken an opposite turn from 1999 after her government's stunning success in overcoming the much feared impact of the prolonged floods in the middle of the previous year. The success, many AL leaders also still acknowledge, contributed largely to turning the then government overconfident and arrogant to some extent.
Her government reportedly started either paying little heed to public sentiments or defending the controversial activities of some ministers, MPs and Awami League men. As a result, her party, the Awami League, had to pay heavily in
the October 2001 parliamentary polls.
This time around, things were moving in different directions from the very beginning. Hasina returned to power, for a second term, after seven years, with a new vision of change as pledged by her party. She left most of her senior party colleagues out of the cabinet formed on January 6, 2009 and brought in some surprise picks to run several important ministries. Although some of the new faces inducted in the cabinet did not have previous experience in ministerial positions, their loyalty to Hasina is still " unquestionable."
Keeping most of the party stalwarts out of the cabinet was initially considered by many as a sign that the AL truly wanted a change. But things started becoming clearer when Hasina in the middle of 2009 outmaneu-vered the party council and dropped those senior leaders from the AL presidium, the party's highest policy making body.
Who were the AL stalwarts? They had held important portfolios in Hasina's previous cabinet and some of them were blamed for
plotting under duress to minus Hasina from the party during the army-backed caretaker government regime. The stalwarts were pushed to the party's advisory council, a largely dysfunctional body. By the induction of new faces in the presidium, who were very loyal to her, Hasina gave out the message that she did not like to keep any window open for anyone to question her leadership of the cabinet and of the party as well as.
Thus within a year, Hasina consolidated herself as a supreme leader in both the cabinet and party, one whose leadership is still "unquestionable". Therefore, her cabinet easily remained free from scrutiny by the party in the last three years. Similarly, the cabinet did not face any tough time or much criticism in parliament for any of its actions or failures as Hasina is also the leader of the House. Being the leader of the House, she controls the largest ever treasury bench in parliament since the restoration of the parliamentary form of government in 1991. It will not be any exaggeration if one says that Sheikh Hasina is now the most pow-
erful prime minister compared to her predecessor, especially since 1991.
How has the performance of the cabinet led by a super powerful prime minister been in last three years? Was she able to keep her promises? Did she act in accordance with her words? And how will her cabinet deliver in the remaining two years of its tenure?
Riding on people's hopes and expectations, the cabinet led by Hasina began a tightrope journey in January, 2009. At the beginning of her second term as PM, Hasina on several occasions cautioned her colleagues in the council of ministers about possible exclusion from the cabinet over alleged involvement in irregularities and failure to deliver.
She also reminded them that induction in the cabinet did not mean they had got permanent jobs.
Prior to the completion of her second year in office, she expressed dissatisfaction over poor performance of some ministries, and directed them to pay more attention to work. At a cabinet meeting on December 19, 2010, she also said she
had information that some ministries were not performing as expected.
Some AL MPs at the party's parliamentary party meeting on March 10, 2011 also expressed dissatisfaction at the poor performance of some ministers and observed that it may not be possible to fulfill people's expectations with them at the helm of the ministries.
But thanks to Hasina's generosity, none was dropped from her cabinet in the last three years on "failure to perform up to the mark" or for "alleged involvement in irregularities". Her cabinet even went through a little reshuffle.
Did the PM evaluate their performances and take steps accordingly in the last three years? She might have. Or she might not have? But the truth is nothing was visible or made public. So it is assumed either she did not review their performances or she found their performance satisfactory.
But mass people, even many of among the ruling AL-led grand alliance men, are not satisfied with the performance with some of ministers who not only
failed to perform, but also annoyed people by making some "whimsical remarks" and controversial activities.
This time, Hasina did not take steps like the ones she took in 1997 to maintain her cabinet's clean image. Rather, she on the parliament floor in February last year saved the then communication minister Syed Abul Hossain, who was sacked from Hasina's cabinet in 1997, from censure by ruling alliance MPs over Abul's letter to the premier against Tofail Ahmed over the latter's criticism of the communication ministry's poor performance.
Her other cabinet colleague Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan has been
openly and uninterruptedly defending drivers who are accused of killing people by driving recklessly. The minister's activities have drawn huge public criticism. But people know nothing such activities.
As the leader of the ruling AL Parliamentary Party, Hasina on several occasions warned her party deputies against corruption, abuse of power and unruly behaviour.
But no action was taken against any of ruling AL MPs who tainted her party and government's image by their controversial activities and unruly behaviour.
Similarly, Hasina's government seems to have opted not for taking stern actions against unruly and
violent activities of many AL men and leaders of its front organisations such as Jatiya Jubo League and Bangladesh Chhatra League.
But law enforcers were seen very harsh on the main opposition BNP leaders and activists to foil their protest programs against the government.
In brief, the overall situationranging from the country's economy to the current political situation— portray a gloomy picture which does not conform to the ruling AL electoral pledges styled "A Charter for Change". Doesn't' it mean the cabinet led by Hasina could not properly deliver on the ruling party's electoral pledges in last three years?