Addressing political corruption is a new reality in Bangladesh
POLITICAL Corruption" is in fact a matter of debate all over the world. In Bangladesh, the debate and discussion on political corruption is not anything new. I have had knowledge about this term since my boyhood during the Pakistan period. However, in view of the promulgation of emergency as per article 141A of the constitution on 11 January 2007 and various reform actions taken since then in Bangladesh, the topic has become a talk of the country and the people want a positive end to all kinds of corruption.
Political corruption is what I may define as misuse or inefficient handling of power by any person holding a public office, with a view to obtaining any illegal or extra legal gain and depriving people of their rightful gain, be it financial or otherwise. Like anywhere else in the world, political corruption in Bangladesh has many facets. The prominent ones are:
Taking financial or other benefits against award of projects, contracts for self or party fund.
Awarding projects to party men in exchange for favour during, before or after election.
Depriving lowest, experienced or efficient bidders from award of tender due to their political background, link or perceived link.
Forcing contractors to buy items/equipment from favoured company/persons at higher costs, forcing them to give subscriptions for political rally, forcing them to employ favoured but inexperienced persons, forcing them to join own political party or frontline organization, etc.
Changing project profile to suit own political requirements thus causing losses to public fund.
Harassing genuine bidders with state machineries, i.e. police, NBR, ACC etc. for not listening to unlawful demands.
The basis for the struggle for independence of Bangladesh was a sense of deprivation that was caused due to wanton political corruption of Pakistanis. They not only looted away our share of national wealth but also deprived us of our rightful share in every aspect of national resource. However, it is a matter of shame that political corruption continued its legacy even after independence. Soon after Bangobandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the Nation, was killed in August 1975, General Zia used political corruption to form his new political party "Bangladesh Nationalist Party" (BNP) primarily with the help of corrupt elements of different political parties, unscrupulous, corrupt and opportunist businessmen and anti liberation forces. The next government of General Ershad and his political party "Jatiyo Party" (JP) was also formed in the same manner. In 1990, people's victory over autocratic government brought back parliamentary democracy; however, nothing significant happened during subsequent governments' rule to curb corruption in general and political corruption in particular.
The Awami League Government led by Sheikh Hasina between 1996 - 2001 strengthened the parliamentary oversight function by introducing Prime Minister's question time, live telecast and broadcast of parliamentary proceedings, appointment of MPs including oppositions' MPs as Standing Committee Chairmen instead of ministers etc, which yielded some positive results. However, corrupt practices at all levels continued and it went beyond all proportions between 2002 and 2006 during ultra rightist BNP Jamat government. Horrifying news of ministers and MPs obtaining illegal kick backs from projects became open secret and were known nationally and world wide. A Number of development projects were dropped, stopped or slowed down by International Financial Institutions. Bangladesh was assessed to be number one corrupt country of the world for about four continuous years by Transparency International. Political corruption by VIPs encouraged petty corruption, terrorism, extortion, political killing, drug abuse, women and child trafficking. Bureaucracy and even the higher judiciary were also badly affected.
In such a situation the opposition parties formed Combined Opposition Alliance, took vow to uproot all kinds of corruption and launched an all out movement. The positive result of the movement is 11 January change also known as "1/11 Reform".
An analytical look into politics in Bangladesh and her corruption chain will clearly reveal the factors behind political corruption in our country. The prominent ones are:
Autocratic Leadership most of the major political parties do not practice a transparent democratic process in selecting leadership hierarchy. The same is also partially applicable to selecting leadership at grass root levels and front organizations. The top leadership used to handpick leaders instead of party workers electing them. Thus the leadership chain is mostly maintained through a politically corrupt process which gave birth to all forms of corruption for the benefit of a handful.
Impotency and inefficiency of anti-corruption agencies - the leadership in such agencies were also selected through a non-transparent process, which for obvious reasons did not act as per rules and laws. This process selected corrupt and inefficient officials to head anti-corruption agencies and encouraged cronyism at all levels
Ineffectiveness of Bangladesh Jatio Sangsad (National Parliament) The Bangladesh Parliament is empowered as per article 76 of the Constitution and rules 187 - 266 of Rules of Procedure of the Parliament to discuss, investigate, inquire, call for any files and recommend actions against any corrupt practice. However much of this power had not been used, rather grossly misused.
Lack of anti-corruption awareness among people It is unfortunate that the family, social, or religious values have changed for worse in Bangladesh over the years. Corrupt politicians are often viewed as smart, intelligent, efficient and on the contrary honest politicians as docile, simple and foolish. The civil society has also failed in its role to take up a united stand against politically corrupt leadership and motivate public opinion to take effective measures against them.
Direct and indirect help by International Community, Development Partners Often we observed with dismay, while countries and International Finance Organizations showed off their anti-corruption profile, they either helped or over looked cases of corruption in Bangladesh terming them as our internal matter. There are a number of cases where such organizations even tacitly encouraged corruption.
The change of 11 January 2007 has brought in an atmosphere where prompt positive steps were taken to address political corruption. So far some positive actions have been taken such as:
Formation of independent Anti-Corruption Commission.
Arrest of a large number of politicians, government officials and businessmen alleged to be involved with corruption and some of them have also been punished by courts of law.
Formation of Administrative Reforms Commission to bring about some much needed reforms in government systems.
However even now corruption continues in different forms. Formation of favoured political parties and breaking of old political parties, control on media, price hike, failure of Annual Development Program (ADP), mismanagement in the government activities, especially in agriculture, power, man-power sector etc. are some examples.
Aristotle said, "State came into existence for the sake of mere life but continued for the sake of good life". To me 'good life' means security and protection of life, liberty and right to acquire property which is the essence of social contract theory as propagated by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Roussean. And 'Good life' can be only ensured through 'accountability and transparency' both being part of 'Good Governance'. I think the following measures are required to be taken to curb political corruption in Bangladesh:
* Ensure Good Governance at all levels.
* Honest and dedicated politicians are nominated for leadership through timely election to National Parliament. The following steps may be taken to bring effective leadership:
* Posts of Chairman and General Secretary at all levels of political committees are filled by secret ballot through proper party council.
* Nomination process is made more democratic. Grass root leaders of each political party in the constituency will forward to Central Parliamentary Committee 3/5 names of potential candidates chosen through secret ballot. Central parliamentary Committee will select one for party nomination.
* Only honest, dedicated party men who have served the party and people for at least five years be chosen.
* Real expenditure for election should be brought under limit.
* Submission of wealth statement by all MPs, ministers and government officials up to Deputy Secretary be made compulsory every year.
* Audit Report on political party fund is made public. Government may consider providing fund for election and running of the party on the basis of votes obtained in last general election.
* Measures to be taken to make anti corruption agencies efficient and accountable to the people through parliament and ombudsman.
* Steps are taken by government to build awareness in society against corruption. Civil society and NGOs are encouraged to play due role.
What the donors can do or not do
a. Help capacity building of government anti-corruption bodies and organs i.e. police, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) etc. b. Help capacity building of ACC. c. Help strengthen parliamentary oversight functioning. d. Support people oriented development projects. e. Don't support projects primarily for importing equipment, consultancy or employment of consultants etc from foreign countries. To conclude, I would say, political corruption in Bangladesh will be curbed to a great extent after the forthcoming election as a natural outcome of 11 January and actions so far taken. I hope common people and the political leaders together will choose honest, qualified and dedicated people to represent them in future. As political corruption will probably never come to an end in the world, the same would also happen in Bangladesh, but it can certainly be kept under control to a minimum level through constant vigilance of all stake holders, i.e. people, political parties, parliament and civil society.
a. Help capacity building of government anti-corruption bodies and organs i.e. police, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) etc. b. Help capacity building of ACC. c. Help strengthen parliamentary oversight functioning. d. Support people oriented development projects. e. Don't support projects primarily for importing equipment, consultancy or employment of consultants etc from foreign countries. To conclude, I would say, political corruption in Bangladesh will be curbed to a great extent after the forthcoming election as a natural outcome of 11 January and actions so far taken. I hope common people and the political leaders together will choose honest, qualified and dedicated people to represent them in future. As political corruption will probably never come to an end in the world, the same would also happen in Bangladesh, but it can certainly be kept under control to a minimum level through constant vigilance of all stake holders, i.e. people, political parties, parliament and civil society.
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