Of wealth, politics and democracy

Mir Mostafizur Rahaman | Published: December 23, 2023 18:50:52

The country celebrated its 53rd victory day on December 16. When it became an independent country after a nine-month long battle, hope was high that economic equality in society, which was one of the prime objectives of our grand liberation war, would be ensured.
People from all walks of life had expected that men who would govern the country would help create an honest, sincere and patriotic political class. Serving the people rising above self-interest will be the mission and vision of the members of this class.
Alas, after 52 years, people see an altogether different picture when they go through the wealth statements submitted by the candidates of the upcoming parliamentary polls.
According to the relevant rules, all candidates have to submit an affidavit on their wealth along with their respective nomination papers.
Many of these affidavits have become the talk of the town in the last couple of days as those project how the size of personal wealth of some of the country's lawmakers as well as ministers has grown abnormally.
Over the last decade or so, high food prices made the life of commoners miserable. But the person who steered the food ministry during that time had prospered in terms of their personal wealth.
According to the wealth statement presented in the affidavit, the wealth of a state minister rose by a whopping 98 times in the last 15 years and the growth rate is 40 per cent per year.
A young state minister who first contested for the parliamentary election in 2008, had submitted a wealth statement declaring a bank balance of TK 20,000 only. In his latest affidavit he has shown a bank balance of TK 47 million.
These affidavits also show that the wealth of a full minister rose by 11 per cent and that the wealth of a globe-trotting state minister swelled to TK 890 million from 20 million that he had shown in his earlier affidavit.
It reminds many of the famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi who said, there are enough resources to meet human need but not enough to meet human greed. Making money is essential for livelihood but the question is how much, and through what means?
When wealth of a sitting minister rises disproportionately it raises various questions in the minds of the people. Not long ago, politicians in our society were revered for honesty in terms of their financial dealings.
Politicians like Gandhi, Neheru, Malians Abul Kalam Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Bangabandhu were highly dedicated to their pro-people political ideology and they had never been interested in acquiring wealth.
Even many of them could not do justice to their family members by failing to provide them with sufficient resources to lead a comfortable life. Because they entered politics to sacrifice their lives for the well being of their party as well as for their people. To them, politics was a full-time job. Amassing wealth through political clout was seen as an immoral act in society.
Moreover, in many democracies, conflict of interests are consciously avoided while appointing ministers or even parliamentary committee members.
Involvement of business people in politics is not a new phenomenon in the present-day world. But it is expected that a person involved in shipping business should not be included even in the parliamentary committees related to shipping business to avoid conflict of interests.
Unfortunately, in our democracy breaches of such norms are evident.
People expect that whoever forms the government after the upcoming election, should select the cabinet members with people of clean track record.
mirmostafiz@yahoo.com