Caretaker government, in retrospect
Friday, 19 December 2008
Syed Fattahul Alim
The time of reckoning for the caretaker government has arrived, for, finally, it is at the end of its mission to hold a free, fair and credible national election to install the next political government in power. Small wonder the chief executive of the incumbent caretaker government wanted to convey to the media how his administration did fare during about two years it has been in office.
A caretaker government by its very nomenclature is an interim arrangement to govern a country until a political government is elected to office. And by whichever means such an interim government may take office (whether according to any existing constitutional provisions or otherwise), it has also to take stock of its performance to justify its existence during the tenure it had served in its political office, though unlike the elected political governments it is not pledge-bound to do so. So, it was good on the part of the chief adviser of the incumbent caretaker government Dr.Fakhruddin Ahmed to share his views about the performance of his government at a tête-à-tête with a select gathering of the media people.
In fact, the culture of taking responsibility for one's act is not very popular in this part of the world. Here self-assessment is all about self-praise. Every government that has been taking office successively in the country had never been on record to have done otherwise. But since no human is an angel, the people who led the previous governments were no angels either. So, they were naturally susceptible to committing wrongs, including blunders. Sadly though, none of them did ever show any tendency to accept responsibility for their failures. So, the gullible public is always fed with stories of success without exception. Now, if all the governments have been about only success stories, why are all these complaints about mismanagement, corruption and the stink? The answer is too familiar-it is always either the previous government or the forces of opposition that are to blame for any failure met with or misdeed done.
The present caretaker government too came into office in the midst of a political chaos. Without going into the details of the chain of events leading to that situation, which has different interpretations to different parties, it has to be accepted that the situation obtaining at that time was not at all helpful for the growth of democracy or the economy. So, the caretaker government that followed had taken office with the promise of restoring the congenial atmosphere for holding a fair and credible election. Meanwhile, it also made some other promises that falls within the ambit of an elected government. And it is against this backdrop that the incumbent caretaker government has thought it wise to make some self-appreciative comments on its performance over the period it has been running the government.
It is in fact too early to make any informed judgement on the performances other than that of holding election by the caretaker government now in office. Once the election is held on the stipulated date in a manner that was promised, one would then be able to make confident comments on the performance of this government.
On this score, one may also recall that this particular caretaker government had also taken upon itself certain big tasks that are usually the preserve of the revolutionary governments, let alone the run-of-the-mill elected political governments. Such promises were made, for example, towards effecting a change in the political culture. True, there are some feathers in the cap of the present caretaker government. Introduction of the voter identity card is one such feat. The electoral code of conduct, the registration of the political parties, separation of the judiciary from the executive, establishment of the independent anti-corruption commission, etc are claimed to be some of the achievements of the present caretaker government. In fact, some of those had also been the electoral promises of the political parties since long. But the problem was it is the genuine spirit of the cause that had always been lacking in their handling of the tasks. And it is exactly for this reason that the political opposition had always questioned the intention behind implementation, if any, of the tasks that were claimed to have been done before. As the proof of the proverbial pudding lies in its eating, so it is the case with the completion of the aforementioned tasks that had long been overdue. So, one has to wait until the elected governments take office and allow the institutions so initiated to function in their true spirit.
Frankly speaking, just the enunciation of a good law or introduction of a particular institution is not in itself a guarantee that it would deliver automatically. In fact, there is no dearth of good laws or institutions in the country. The problem is the laws or institutions so framed or introduced in the past were forgotten no sooner than they were created. So, there is hardly any room for taking much pride in such paperwork of significance. The credit, if any, would be in ensuring that those laws are being implemented or the institutions thus formed have been functioning in their exact spirit. However, an interim government is both short of the time or the mandate to lap up the success of the landmark steps, if any, it might have undertaken on this score.
What the country needs in this hour of need is a kind of democratic government that would be more interested in implementing the good laws and institutions that are already in existence. Popular supports for these good sounding words like fight against age-old corruption or other such grand slogans as are good for democracy, the economy and the mass people, for that matter, are already there. So, here one would not have to take the trouble of reinventing the wheel. What those, who were already in charge in succession so far, were wanting in was the intention to make the good laws or the fine institutions functional. The outgoing caretaker government can at best ask itself (if it really means to be up to the high promises and hopes it had in the beginning ), if it has been able to set the trend. Has the condition been created so that the future governments will be willing to follow it?
High promises are easier made than kept. And in case the promises fall short of their high targets, the measure of the failures, too, turns out to be bigger with the attending broadside fired to them severer. It is true of either the caretaker or the elected political government.
So, the best guarantee against such unwanted consequences is to target such schemes as are less grandiose and doable within a definable length of time. At the same time, it is also necessary to be aware about one's own limitations and be candid about that. That helps a lot in looking at one's performance self-critically and with dignity, though. Such work culture will encourage the practice of weighing oneself up more critically and at the same time discourage the temptation of gratuitously blaming others for one's own failure. In fact, this culture of self-criticism and being modest about one's own accomplishments lie at the core of democratic values.
The interim government could leave a more exalted legacy and accomplished a larger number of tasks within these two years had it also set its targets accordingly. But then one must be thankful of what has still been done.
The time of reckoning for the caretaker government has arrived, for, finally, it is at the end of its mission to hold a free, fair and credible national election to install the next political government in power. Small wonder the chief executive of the incumbent caretaker government wanted to convey to the media how his administration did fare during about two years it has been in office.
A caretaker government by its very nomenclature is an interim arrangement to govern a country until a political government is elected to office. And by whichever means such an interim government may take office (whether according to any existing constitutional provisions or otherwise), it has also to take stock of its performance to justify its existence during the tenure it had served in its political office, though unlike the elected political governments it is not pledge-bound to do so. So, it was good on the part of the chief adviser of the incumbent caretaker government Dr.Fakhruddin Ahmed to share his views about the performance of his government at a tête-à-tête with a select gathering of the media people.
In fact, the culture of taking responsibility for one's act is not very popular in this part of the world. Here self-assessment is all about self-praise. Every government that has been taking office successively in the country had never been on record to have done otherwise. But since no human is an angel, the people who led the previous governments were no angels either. So, they were naturally susceptible to committing wrongs, including blunders. Sadly though, none of them did ever show any tendency to accept responsibility for their failures. So, the gullible public is always fed with stories of success without exception. Now, if all the governments have been about only success stories, why are all these complaints about mismanagement, corruption and the stink? The answer is too familiar-it is always either the previous government or the forces of opposition that are to blame for any failure met with or misdeed done.
The present caretaker government too came into office in the midst of a political chaos. Without going into the details of the chain of events leading to that situation, which has different interpretations to different parties, it has to be accepted that the situation obtaining at that time was not at all helpful for the growth of democracy or the economy. So, the caretaker government that followed had taken office with the promise of restoring the congenial atmosphere for holding a fair and credible election. Meanwhile, it also made some other promises that falls within the ambit of an elected government. And it is against this backdrop that the incumbent caretaker government has thought it wise to make some self-appreciative comments on its performance over the period it has been running the government.
It is in fact too early to make any informed judgement on the performances other than that of holding election by the caretaker government now in office. Once the election is held on the stipulated date in a manner that was promised, one would then be able to make confident comments on the performance of this government.
On this score, one may also recall that this particular caretaker government had also taken upon itself certain big tasks that are usually the preserve of the revolutionary governments, let alone the run-of-the-mill elected political governments. Such promises were made, for example, towards effecting a change in the political culture. True, there are some feathers in the cap of the present caretaker government. Introduction of the voter identity card is one such feat. The electoral code of conduct, the registration of the political parties, separation of the judiciary from the executive, establishment of the independent anti-corruption commission, etc are claimed to be some of the achievements of the present caretaker government. In fact, some of those had also been the electoral promises of the political parties since long. But the problem was it is the genuine spirit of the cause that had always been lacking in their handling of the tasks. And it is exactly for this reason that the political opposition had always questioned the intention behind implementation, if any, of the tasks that were claimed to have been done before. As the proof of the proverbial pudding lies in its eating, so it is the case with the completion of the aforementioned tasks that had long been overdue. So, one has to wait until the elected governments take office and allow the institutions so initiated to function in their true spirit.
Frankly speaking, just the enunciation of a good law or introduction of a particular institution is not in itself a guarantee that it would deliver automatically. In fact, there is no dearth of good laws or institutions in the country. The problem is the laws or institutions so framed or introduced in the past were forgotten no sooner than they were created. So, there is hardly any room for taking much pride in such paperwork of significance. The credit, if any, would be in ensuring that those laws are being implemented or the institutions thus formed have been functioning in their exact spirit. However, an interim government is both short of the time or the mandate to lap up the success of the landmark steps, if any, it might have undertaken on this score.
What the country needs in this hour of need is a kind of democratic government that would be more interested in implementing the good laws and institutions that are already in existence. Popular supports for these good sounding words like fight against age-old corruption or other such grand slogans as are good for democracy, the economy and the mass people, for that matter, are already there. So, here one would not have to take the trouble of reinventing the wheel. What those, who were already in charge in succession so far, were wanting in was the intention to make the good laws or the fine institutions functional. The outgoing caretaker government can at best ask itself (if it really means to be up to the high promises and hopes it had in the beginning ), if it has been able to set the trend. Has the condition been created so that the future governments will be willing to follow it?
High promises are easier made than kept. And in case the promises fall short of their high targets, the measure of the failures, too, turns out to be bigger with the attending broadside fired to them severer. It is true of either the caretaker or the elected political government.
So, the best guarantee against such unwanted consequences is to target such schemes as are less grandiose and doable within a definable length of time. At the same time, it is also necessary to be aware about one's own limitations and be candid about that. That helps a lot in looking at one's performance self-critically and with dignity, though. Such work culture will encourage the practice of weighing oneself up more critically and at the same time discourage the temptation of gratuitously blaming others for one's own failure. In fact, this culture of self-criticism and being modest about one's own accomplishments lie at the core of democratic values.
The interim government could leave a more exalted legacy and accomplished a larger number of tasks within these two years had it also set its targets accordingly. But then one must be thankful of what has still been done.