Don’t remove oversight from the ACC ordinance

We share the dismay expressed by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) over the exclusion of a crucial reform provision in the new Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Ordinance 2025, disregarding the national consensus on this issue. The ACC Reform Commission, it can be recalled, had recommended establishing an oversight mechanism through a "Selection and Review Committee" to ensure accountability alongside independence and to prevent the ACC from being used as a tool for politically motivated harassment. By removing this strategically important provision, the government has once again opted for a half-hearted reform, which is unlikely to achieve meaningful results.

Drawing from past experience, the reform commission rightly argued that restoring public trust in this long-discredited institution will require not only formal independence but also transparency and accountability in its operations. This includes half-yearly reviews, as well as periodic public hearings and consultations conducted by the proposed Selection and Review Committee. The interim government's justification for removing such a vital safeguard—that an oversight board would complicate operations and undermine independence—is simply untenable. Institutions wielding significant power without effective accountability rarely serve public interests; instead, they risk being weaponised against the very people they are meant to protect.

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What’s the point of a ceremonial ACC?

What makes this development particularly disappointing is that the oversight provision was part of the July Charter, which the interim government presented as a collective national pledge endorsed by all political parties. Its removal now risks setting a damaging precedent, encouraging political parties and other stakeholders to disregard their commitments on reform initiatives as well. TIB's allegation that many other reform proposals have already been undermined by "anti-reform circles within the government" only deepens these concerns.

It is also troubling that little visible progress has been made in implementing recommendations from other reform commissions covering the media, health, women's rights, local government, and public administration. This inertia highlights a broader systemic stagnation within the bureaucracy, which has become painfully evident since the 2024 mass uprising. Now, as the country approaches the election phase, doubts are mounting about whether reforms marked for prompt implementation will even be initiated, let alone completed. It increasingly appears that the interim government, led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, is allowing yet another rare opportunity for meaningful reform to slip away, reducing the state reform agenda to mere rhetoric.

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Why are so many ACC cases unresolved?

The consequences of this missed opportunity to strengthen institutions may be felt for years, if not generations. For a government championing state reforms, this represents a deeply contradictory and profoundly discouraging precedent.