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Good Governance

Graft, lax law enforcement big obstacles

Laments Muhith

Staff Correspondent
Corruption and lack of enforcement of law in an appropriate manner are the key obstacles in ensuring good governance in Bangladesh, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday.
“Corruption, 1 believe, is highest in police administration, judiciary and education and health services,” he told a function at Sonargaon Hotel in the capital, adding that police were the most corrupt in many countries, includingBangladeshandlndia. He, however, mentioned that the most corrupt system in Bangladesh was the system of land administration, and termed it "an evil cycle” gifted to the people.
Muhith was speaking at a roundtable, "Good Governance: Leveraging Initiatives that Work”, organised by the Cabinet Division in partnership with Asian Development Bank (ADB). Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan and country director of ADB M Teresa Kho also spoke.
Ghulam Rahman, Chairman of the AntiCorruption Commission (ACC), told newsmen after the programme that almost every sector in the country had corruption.
The finance minister opined that proper implementation of information technology and flow of information could stop graft and thus ensure good governance.
He said around 75 percent of the litigations were filed centring on land registration and land records.
It takes years to find the owner of a piece of land because of the hurdles concerning land records or surveys, said the minister. He hoped that digitisation of land records and land offices would make it easier for people to deal with land issues.
Regarding graft among the police, he said the rules and regulations, by which the police are governed, ensure that corruption could be checked, "but unfortunately it is not”.
“It can be totally checked by applying Information Technology,” he said.
An FIR (first information report) or a GD (general
diary) usually contains all related information, and it is impossible for a policeman to be corrupt if that is made public, he said.
“If a policeman doesn't carry out his duty according to the FIR or GD, people will say he must have taken bribes,” said the minister.
On RTFs role in good governance, Muhith said it was the best guard of individual rights. “If I know how a decision is taken and what the decision is, I can seek accountability from the government.”
He said the government had taken some steps in that respect: establishment of citizen charters and information officers in every office were among them.
Anybody can visit an office and ask for service referring to the charters. "Unfortunately, that is not very much in use, neither by citizens nor by offices," he added.
On community-level action against corruption and mismanagement, Muhith said decentralisation and empowering local governments were very crucial instruments for good governance.
“Of course, the administrative chairs are there up to the Union Parishads, but power is extremely concentrated at the upper level,” he said.
The minister added that community involvement was fundamental for good governance as it gave the people a sense of participation in policy-making, legislating, and questing after transparency and accountability in the government's performance.
Bringing up an example, Muhith said, “If the director of education sits in a district
headquarters, it will be very difficult for him to not notice the interests of the community. Otherwise, people will storm his office and the officer will have to flee.”
On IT-based service delivery, he said, "If there is online service, it will be much easier for an individual to obtain services and follow regulations. IT is the biggest instrument against corruption."
Muhith said good governance had become a matter of serious concern as “without good governance, it is very much difficult to manage the affairs of the people and the country in a very healthy manner”.
He said the Constitution of Bangladesh, as originally adopted, had provided for an office of Ombudsman with the aim of ensuring good governance. “But we have been unable to appoint an Ombudsman in 40 years,” he added.
“It is said that political divisions were too strong in this country to permit the emergence of an Ombudsman. This is the argument which I have heard in government after government; every government has had the same view —- that it is very difficult to find a person who can be made Ombudsman," said the minister.
Asked to comment on Muhith's remarks about graft, the ACC chairman said corruption had become a way of life in Bangladesh.
“Every sector has corruption -- more or less,” he told reporters. “It continues to rise when greed acts as the main factor and when the corrupt are released due to the loopholes in laws."
Corruption could not be