Extortion spree and good governance

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Shahiduzzaman Khan
Commerce Minister GM Quader has now come out in public on the price-hike issue. He has criticised the political parties -- and not even spared the government machinery -- on matters connected with extortion. After taking over the charge of the ministry of commerce, he was not so much in the limelight as Mr Faruq Khan used to be. Quader said big political parties are backing extortion in the transport sector in their own interest and all "associated persons" are taking a chunk of it.
Being a minister of the government and a presidium member of the Jatiya Party which is one of key partners of the Awami League (AL)-led ruling alliance, GM Quader said this week political parties do not go tough on various kinds of extortion since they need people to get votes for them. Extortion in the transport sector has become a norm and people involved in it, consider it their legal business and their right, he said.
Addressing a seminar on modernisation of agriculture and acceleration of farm produce exports, organised by the Federation of the Bangladesh Chambers of Industry (FBCCI), he said cases of extortion at different places and under different names, are, causing the prices of essential commodities to go up. Blaming the lack of good governance for extortion and corruption, he said: "We are responsible for whatever is going on in the country. Because we [the people] make the government. This is the price we pay for democracy."
Quader's remarks came a week after Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, along with some transport leaders, demanded before a parliamentary sub-committee that collection of unofficial 'fees' or 'subscriptions' -- a soft word for extortion -- in the transport sector be made legal to 'stop corruption in the transport sector'.
While Quader was reported to have said in public that he would like extortion to be wiped out, the shipping minister was stated to have said on a different occasion only a few days back that he would like it to be legalised in the transport sector. This difference has otherwise been quite striking.
Extortion is widely held to be responsible for perishing of vegetables and fruits during transportation and plays a major role behind the rise of the prices of essentials. The middlemen or intermediaries do overwhelmingly dominate the supply-chain of essentials as they are very powerful in the sector. Quader said they (middlemen) 'help us become ministers.' There is no way to get rid of them; they are everywhere in the world. Quader thinks all these are happening for lack of good governance and accountability.
A close scrutiny of the country's kitchen market will reveal that a handful of so-called businessmen have the dominant influence over the major portion of the market of the essential commodities, whereas the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is able to cater to the needs of only three per cent of the market. Although the government is trying to help strengthen the TCB, there are doubts about the TCB's ability to intervene properly in the market in times of need.
Country's businessmen, quite a number of times, informed the home ministry about how much money they had paid to the extortionists and at how many places. The government remained undisturbed. When traders are asked how the price of a papaya bought for Tk 5.0 a kilogram (kg) in Rajshahi becomes Tk 20 in Dhaka, they blame extortion, transport cost and high lending rates on bank credits behind the price spiral. Because of their high deposit rates and liquidity constraints, banks are now charging high lending rates. Most recently, additional interest rates on businesses which had borrowed funds from the banks before the spike in lending rates, have been imposed.
Some of the law enforcers are also reported to be directly involved in extortion. Poor drivers and truck owners are forced to pay toll to the extortionists at many highway points against their conscience and will, if the situation goes like this, require to pay the same in the future. Extortion has, thus, been pushing up the prices of essentials. Yet a number of ministers have been contending that the people can still buy different food items at higher prices than before as their earnings have also gone up. Is this really true? The ultra-poor and the poor in the country, whose number runs into millions, do not yet have access to food to the minimum level of calorie requirement to keep their body and soul together, not to speak of making their two ends meet, across the country. Only the earnings of the privileged and fortunate ones -- including the extortionists, of course -- have gone up; it is not the case with the ordinary people, at least in real terms i.e., at inflation-adjusted levels.
In the recent past, two cabinet ministers -- AMA Muhith and Abdur Razzak -- observed that the country's economic growth could have been much higher if bribery and extortion in government offices and at other places -- down to kitchen markets -- could be checked. Both acknowledged that the cases of extortion on highways by the 'powerful' goons as well as some sections among the law enforcers add to the transport costs and contribute, to a substantial extent, to commodity price-hikes. Such a sincere acknowledgement of the problem points to the urgent need for stopping this menace.
Food Minister Abdur Razzak recently quoted reports of the intelligence agencies when he was mentioning the incidents of extortion at a high level meeting of the government. He said a truck owner got only Tk 7000 for a trip to Mymensingh from Jessore, although it was pre-settled at Tk 28,000. The rest Tk 21,000 had to be paid as extortion, he said.
When none other than the ministers reveal inherent weaknesses of the system in containing the incidents of extortion, the government should do the needful at the earliest to address them. Due to pervasive cases of extortion at different points of highways, prices of vegetable and other essential commodities are not coming down. The price gap between growers' level and retail markets in the city is very wide. For example, brinjal bought at Tk 10 per kg at the grower's level is sold at Tk 40 a kg in city retail outlets. Traders make profit even after paying a substantial amount of money as toll. In such ways, the farmers and the city dwellers are being cheated at the hands of extortionists and a section of dishonest traders.
Under such circumstances, the situation heightens the need for an effective action-oriented strategy to facilitate a normal functioning of the market, without being impacted by diverse kinds of distortions and imperfections. The administration, especially that of the police, has also to be allowed to work neutrally, without any interference by any powerful lobby. Respect for law and going by the standard rules of the game, without being tampered by unlawful actions on the part of any vested interest groups, must be promoted on all counts. And the home minister has to perform here a challenging task. szkhan@dhaka.net