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BITTER TRUTH

Vibrant parliament needed

Md. Asadullah Khan
WITH corruption, unaccountability, opacity, drift and paralysis in governance in recent times, the need for a vibrant parliament with untainted MPs has become most apparent. In a democratic set up, parliament members are the driving force in putting the wheels of development in motion. As the country sinks deeper into monetary scandals involving banks, stock market and shady business deals, pessimism and gloom descend.
With governance at stake in every sphere of administration and public life, and people's representatives shirking their responsibilities, development efforts and reform measures are coming to a grinding halt. Experts believe that what the country missed most was a leader or leaders who could rise above politics of power and inspire a disenchanted country with proper governance and a vision for the future. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had the mandate and credentials but it seems that she has, to a great extent, failed the nation.
In the backdrop of the dismal performance in different sectors of the government, people look forward to the next parliamentary election due in about a year and a half, which must be free, fair and credible. With such exasperating and bitter experience, people only hope that the forthcoming parliamentary election could turn out to be a poll that marks a turning point in Bangladeshi politics. Frustrated with the performance of the democratic governments in the last 20 years, voters must seize this chance of putting things straight. The next election, despite all the turmoil that we foresee in the coming days, will be an episode in the country's development into a mature democracy.
As usual, as the election fever takes momentum, people will hear much about the "people." Every politician willing to contest in the election will be wandering about his constituency telling the electorate again how much his heart bleeds for them, how it is only for them that he works, and how it is only their interest he cares about.
Well, let's take a look at what people's lives are like 41 year after liberation of the country. Despite the flood of tears that has been shed by the elected representatives of the past governments, more than half of our people live in appalling poverty. These people have no hope of rising above poverty line since most of them are illiterate and incapable of getting jobs either at home or abroad. The crisis was created by greed and resolved through bluff, intrigue and unsavoury deals. Shockingly, some politicians and bureaucrats had chosen a development plan to create islands of prosperity and oceans of deprivation. Reports about malfeasance, encroachment of government property, recruitment business and dirty business deals by people's representatives in collusion with greedy business groups, speak volumes about the non-functioning of the government.
For a government that assumed office amid soaring expectations, the fall has been precipitous. The euphoria over thumping election victory has all but dissipated and been replaced with exasperation that is fast turning into anger. Every lapse, from power shortage to power price hike to the exorbitant price of food items is being blamed on the government's ineptitude. Indiscretions of some ministers and utterances with respect to bad deals, from issuing bank loans to looting people’s money in the name of business, are assuming enormous proportions.
In spite of the fact that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is the right person in the right place, she is nevertheless heading a bad government. Party veterans have often said that the uncertainty of the past has no doubt been replaced by a sense of purposefulness, but this optimism is not reflected in performance. The alliance government conveys an unmistakable impression of lacking in vision. It has taken many bold steps as well as decisions but shied away from drawing political mileage.
People recall that BNP-Jamaat alliance's five years in power had been one of the worst periods of misrule and corruption. Politics became a way of making money. It was a sad tale of corruption, arrogance and mismanagement. But people can't take kindly the series of financial scams rocking the country in the last three and half years. There is total erosion of the value system and rationality from the body politic of the nation. The government could not deliver to the 150 million people the kind of governance that an impoverished country like Bangladesh needs. The fault lies with the election process and the type of people we have elected to the parliament.
The situation today is such that a decent person with education and social service background can't get elected to the Parliament, but one with little education but sacks full of money and muscle wins hands down in election after election. Apparendy, politics here has no room for decent persons. Significantly, when the EC's stand in India in the last parliamentary election that all candidates must disclose their police records was upheld by the apex court, political parties across the board joined hands to negate the ruling through an ordinance. The Supreme Court in India struck it down, making it mandatory for all candidates to submit an affidavit revealing the cases against them, if any.
Former chief justice of India J.S. Verma, in total agreement with the EC's suggestion, put forward the view that framing of charges by the court is the most appropriate stage at which criminals can be weeded out of the system. The EC and legal luminaries in Bangladesh might take a cue from this observation. Speaking in the context of Bangladesh, the law as of now is that only after a person has been convicted can he/she be barred from contesting the election.
Our experience suggests that the existing provisions of law and norms of public morality have failed to keep dubious characters out of elected bodies. On the other hand, conviction rates in the country being so abysmally low and trials so long winded that most criminals never end up serving a sentence -- or if they do, it is often decades after committing a crime. In the meantime, there is nothing to stop them from sitting in the parliament or even becoming a cabinet minister.
Unhappily, our experience in the past years shows that many people belonging to political parties, or even some people's representatives, are "yes" men. They have hardly any guts to rise against the top brass or personality even if he or she is wrong. On the other hand, the elected representatives lord over the electorate when they are supposed to protect and safeguard their interests. Because those venal politicians have been busy cashing-in the dividends for themselves, they have failed to keep up the morale of the party men or people they represent.
The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.