Good governance still far off 40 years after independence

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FE Report Bangladesh has made a long journey 40 years after its independence, but the country still suffers from key governance issues including deteriorating law and order, widespread graft and politics of greed, experts said Sunday. They said the nation has become a functional democracy, but its institutions are fragile and heavily politicised, its people unaware of their rights and there is lopsided relations between the legislature and the executive. Presenting a paper on the state of governance in the country, Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul said the parliament has failed the people while security agencies and police serve the interest of only a few. "Rule of laws means the country should be governed by law instead of any person, family or a quarter. Rule of law must not be understood in a mischievous way to allow dominance of 'bad' or `black' laws," he said. "But many people now doubt whether law and order exist in the country," Nazrul said, adding that parliament is rendered largely dysfunctional due to the boycott by the opposition lawmakers and stubbornness by the treasury bench. Nazrul praised the 1972 constitution for enshrining the rights of the people and rule of law in the country. "But unless the people are educated, aware and vocal about their rights and against the corruption, the changes of laws and the constitution won't bring any benefits to them," he said. Nazrul called for establishing rule of law at any cost, saying it must aim at securing transparency, accountability, participation and effectiveness in governance and public functionaries. The faculty of Business Studies of the Jahangirnagar University organised the seminar on governance issues to mark the 40 years of the country's independence. Professor of the university Abdul Bayes chaired the session. In his paper, Professor Al Masud Hasanuzzaman of Jahangirnagar University said the executive --- not the politicians --- now has power over the parliament. He said the uneven ties between the legislative and the executive have become a cause of major concern in the context of their power relationship and respective roles in the political system. "The steady expansion of powers of the executive since the post-war period contributed to its all-pervading position in the political system at the cost of parliamentary structures," said Mr Hasanuzzaman. Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh Dr Iftekharuzzaman said Bangladesh has gained a lot during the last four decades. "We have attained remarkable successes in social, healthcare, education and economic fronts compared to the countries at our level," he said. Mr Iftekharuzzaman said Bangladesh has inched up in the TI's annual corruption perception index released from Berlin last week. But graft is still widespread in the country, which is now ranked 13th from bottom in the CPI, or 120th among 183 countries the global watchdog surveyed this year. He said corruption has spread up to the grass-roots levels with politics emerging as a key factor. "Politics is now a good business and investment. Some 60 per cent members of parliament are businessmen, which has undermined the political authority in the country," he said. "Our politics is highly confrontational and has become zero-sum game where winner takes all," Dr Iftekharuzzaman said. He said there was high-speed move against corruption during the last caretaker government. "Unfortunately, the process was flawed as we later learnt that the interim government itself was involved in corruption." Prof Dalem Chandra Barman of University of Dhaka said the country has enacted enough laws to protect the rights of its citizens. "The problem is with the enforcement. People hardly get the service they need from the law-enforcing agencies," he said, noting politicians are entitled to enact laws but nowadays it is controlled by the bureaucracy. Professor Abul Kashem Majumdar of Jahangirnagar University said unelected and 'part-time politicians' dominate the political scenes. "We are seeing 'others' in the power under the cover of politicians," he said.