Educating people on privatisation
Saturday, 1 September 2007
SUCCESSIVE governments formed by the major political parties back- pedalled on privatisation notwithstanding the broad agreement among them about privatisation. The parties have feared the pressure of trade unions, employees to be affected by privatisation and the vested interest groups who want the state sectors to remain. What they have not relied on is their own common view on privatisation and similar views being held by economic experts, business groups and truly enlightened ones in the country. This has been the main reason why the governments had to repeatedly abandon privatisation half way or further down in their tenures in the last decade. Clearly, their existed ways of getting round the anticipated backlash to be mounted by anti- privatisation groups. But these ways were not explored.
The interest groups that want to block privatisation are really very small in the total population of the country though they are more vocal and can be influential in emphasising their stand. Thus, the governments should have gone to the people with enough publicities on a regular basis to make the people generally aware of the positive sides of privatisation, information about how lack of privatisation benefits only some coteries and frustrates attempts to make the economy efficient as a whole and retards economic progress as a whole which then go against the economic interests of general people.
With such regular expositions about the pressing need for privatisation, public opinion needs to be mobilised sufficiently to counter the misinformation of anti-privatisation lobbies. Even now, the caretaker government can make efforts for such a motivational campaign on privatisation to educate people on privatisation. This will make the task of speeding up privatisation easier for the next elected government.
Ruhul Amin Hawladar
Testuribazar
Tejgaon, Dhaka
The interest groups that want to block privatisation are really very small in the total population of the country though they are more vocal and can be influential in emphasising their stand. Thus, the governments should have gone to the people with enough publicities on a regular basis to make the people generally aware of the positive sides of privatisation, information about how lack of privatisation benefits only some coteries and frustrates attempts to make the economy efficient as a whole and retards economic progress as a whole which then go against the economic interests of general people.
With such regular expositions about the pressing need for privatisation, public opinion needs to be mobilised sufficiently to counter the misinformation of anti-privatisation lobbies. Even now, the caretaker government can make efforts for such a motivational campaign on privatisation to educate people on privatisation. This will make the task of speeding up privatisation easier for the next elected government.
Ruhul Amin Hawladar
Testuribazar
Tejgaon, Dhaka