First 100 days of the government
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Syed Jamaluddin
HUNDRED days is too short a time to make any judgment on the performance of a government but preliminary observations can be made about the decisions made by it. We hope that the government will continue its work programme, take stock and make adjustments where warranted. The government raised high expectations among the people as it was elected with a landslide majority. What people expect in 100 days is a direction for the country and to see that the election manifesto is being translated into actions. Let us now assess the success and failure of 100 days of the government.
A surprise was given by the prime minister in constituting her cabinet with the predominance of inexperienced ministers. It is good to see women in key ministries of the government but their performance must justify their placement. There are many eminent Awami League parliamentarians who deserve and qualify for ministerial assignment. Their cases will perhaps be considered in future depending on the performance of the new comers. The prime minister may reshuffle the cabinet anytime she desires.
The most obvious success appears to be lowering of prices of rice, non-urea fertiliser and edible oil. The prices of these items came down because their prices in the international market registered declines. Bumper rice crop also contributed to the fall in rice prices. Agricultural inputs were distributed as per the arrangement made by the caretaker government. This government had little contribution to lowering these prices. They were fortunate to benefit from falling international prices which coincided with their election victory. Prices of fish, meat and chicken have gone up. Vegetable prices fluctuated in accordance with supply and demand.
A decision was made in the parliament for the trial of the war criminals. This is in line with the election manifesto of the Awami League. Government announced that the process of trial was in the offing. This is going to be a lengthy and time-consuming process. The decision has been acclaimed as the right step.
It augurs well that parliamentary standing committees have already been set up. The right to information has been enacted into law. But we see that many of the reforms which we had hoped to see made permanent appear to be in danger of being rolled back. The government has already reneged on commitments to separate the judiciary from the executive and devolve power to the local government. There is concern that anti-corruption drive is losing steam. Law and order situation is not satisfactory. The Awami League student front has created unrest in academic campuses. The in-fighting among them has tarnished the image of the government. The closing down of the premier campuses is a matter of deep concern.
There are different views on the handling of the BDR massacre by the government. The matter is now under investigation. The BDR carnage has shaken the government and the army. People are watching as to how the matter is finally settled. If the issue is not resolved in a satisfactory manner, the boat may be rocked again. BDR event is a great challenge for the government. The escape of so many jawans is a serious issue. The government has to take responsibility for intelligence failure before the BDR incident. The country is waiting eagerly to hear the findings of the committee. Our experience with such committees in the past has not been pleasant. The BDR incident is too important for the people to be kept in the dark about the findings.
There are allegations that officials, professionals and bureaucrats are being reshuffled for politically motivated reasons. There is a perception that past practices are being followed in transfer and postings. Officials have become hesitant to take decisions for fear of being transferred or made officer on special duty.
The power supply situation has turned worse. Load shedding has become acute. In the on-going summer season, performance of the power sector was much worse compared to the situation during the caretaker regime. Government had no magic to solve the power crisis. But it was expected that the situation would not deteriorate under the elected government.
Government has cancelled the allotment of the cantonment residence of the leader of the opposition. The opposition is protesting the decision of the government. They are contemplating to take legal action against government decision. If the leader of the opposition is forced out of the house, this could lead to a difficult situation. Many people feel that this issue could have been handled with more prudence. It was not so urgent to pursue this matter as there was enough in the plate of the government.
The global financial meltdown is now affecting Bangladesh. On the closing day of the first 100 days, the finance minister announced broad outlines of a bailout package for recession-hit export industries worth Tk 25-30 billion (2,500-3,000 crore). The cash subsidy is coming on the back of introducing banking facilities in the shape of lower lending rate and loan rescheduling in six sectors. More bail out is expected to accompany the budget. Offering a bail-out plan is a step in the right derection.
This government has amended the Rules of Business, without discussion in parliament, to empower the prime minister to appoint any number of advisers and special assistants and to give them status of ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers. The amendment thus allows the prime minister to side-step the constitutional requirement that restricts her from appointing more than 10% of her ministers as technocrats who are not required to be members of parliament. It also allows these advisers and special assistants to participate in cabinet meetings like ministers who are members of parliament.
Allowing advisers and special assistants the status of ministers/state ministers/deputy ministers and also giving them charge of different ministries, contradicts the sovereignty of the parliament because they are not answerable to it. They are answerable to the prime minister. This has given the prime minister more power than the parliament. One can look into the issue from different angles.
In a talk show, one high profile adviser said that it was his responsibility to keep watch over the ministers and report to the prime minister. This new experiment in governance seems to be misleading and may not succeed. An interesting case in point is the ministry of energy that is headed by the prime minister. This ministry has an elected minister with the rank of a state minister and also has an adviser with the rank of a full minister. The adviser will obviously not act under the state minister, given the superior status he holds. If the state minister acts at the dictates of the adviser, the principle of elected government will be compromised.
An adviser enjoying the rank of a full minister has been given the responsibility to look after the ministries of planning and finance. He is the prime minister's economic affairs adviser. Ministers of finance and planning and the adviser for economic affairs appear to have overlapping responsibilities. Thus, there is potential for conflict between the ministers and the adviser.
Amendment of the Rules of Business to allow non-elected individuals to head ministries and take part in cabinet meetings, if tested in a court of law, has the possibility of being declared un-constitutional. With this ends our discourse on 100 days of the government.
The writer is an economist and columnist
HUNDRED days is too short a time to make any judgment on the performance of a government but preliminary observations can be made about the decisions made by it. We hope that the government will continue its work programme, take stock and make adjustments where warranted. The government raised high expectations among the people as it was elected with a landslide majority. What people expect in 100 days is a direction for the country and to see that the election manifesto is being translated into actions. Let us now assess the success and failure of 100 days of the government.
A surprise was given by the prime minister in constituting her cabinet with the predominance of inexperienced ministers. It is good to see women in key ministries of the government but their performance must justify their placement. There are many eminent Awami League parliamentarians who deserve and qualify for ministerial assignment. Their cases will perhaps be considered in future depending on the performance of the new comers. The prime minister may reshuffle the cabinet anytime she desires.
The most obvious success appears to be lowering of prices of rice, non-urea fertiliser and edible oil. The prices of these items came down because their prices in the international market registered declines. Bumper rice crop also contributed to the fall in rice prices. Agricultural inputs were distributed as per the arrangement made by the caretaker government. This government had little contribution to lowering these prices. They were fortunate to benefit from falling international prices which coincided with their election victory. Prices of fish, meat and chicken have gone up. Vegetable prices fluctuated in accordance with supply and demand.
A decision was made in the parliament for the trial of the war criminals. This is in line with the election manifesto of the Awami League. Government announced that the process of trial was in the offing. This is going to be a lengthy and time-consuming process. The decision has been acclaimed as the right step.
It augurs well that parliamentary standing committees have already been set up. The right to information has been enacted into law. But we see that many of the reforms which we had hoped to see made permanent appear to be in danger of being rolled back. The government has already reneged on commitments to separate the judiciary from the executive and devolve power to the local government. There is concern that anti-corruption drive is losing steam. Law and order situation is not satisfactory. The Awami League student front has created unrest in academic campuses. The in-fighting among them has tarnished the image of the government. The closing down of the premier campuses is a matter of deep concern.
There are different views on the handling of the BDR massacre by the government. The matter is now under investigation. The BDR carnage has shaken the government and the army. People are watching as to how the matter is finally settled. If the issue is not resolved in a satisfactory manner, the boat may be rocked again. BDR event is a great challenge for the government. The escape of so many jawans is a serious issue. The government has to take responsibility for intelligence failure before the BDR incident. The country is waiting eagerly to hear the findings of the committee. Our experience with such committees in the past has not been pleasant. The BDR incident is too important for the people to be kept in the dark about the findings.
There are allegations that officials, professionals and bureaucrats are being reshuffled for politically motivated reasons. There is a perception that past practices are being followed in transfer and postings. Officials have become hesitant to take decisions for fear of being transferred or made officer on special duty.
The power supply situation has turned worse. Load shedding has become acute. In the on-going summer season, performance of the power sector was much worse compared to the situation during the caretaker regime. Government had no magic to solve the power crisis. But it was expected that the situation would not deteriorate under the elected government.
Government has cancelled the allotment of the cantonment residence of the leader of the opposition. The opposition is protesting the decision of the government. They are contemplating to take legal action against government decision. If the leader of the opposition is forced out of the house, this could lead to a difficult situation. Many people feel that this issue could have been handled with more prudence. It was not so urgent to pursue this matter as there was enough in the plate of the government.
The global financial meltdown is now affecting Bangladesh. On the closing day of the first 100 days, the finance minister announced broad outlines of a bailout package for recession-hit export industries worth Tk 25-30 billion (2,500-3,000 crore). The cash subsidy is coming on the back of introducing banking facilities in the shape of lower lending rate and loan rescheduling in six sectors. More bail out is expected to accompany the budget. Offering a bail-out plan is a step in the right derection.
This government has amended the Rules of Business, without discussion in parliament, to empower the prime minister to appoint any number of advisers and special assistants and to give them status of ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers. The amendment thus allows the prime minister to side-step the constitutional requirement that restricts her from appointing more than 10% of her ministers as technocrats who are not required to be members of parliament. It also allows these advisers and special assistants to participate in cabinet meetings like ministers who are members of parliament.
Allowing advisers and special assistants the status of ministers/state ministers/deputy ministers and also giving them charge of different ministries, contradicts the sovereignty of the parliament because they are not answerable to it. They are answerable to the prime minister. This has given the prime minister more power than the parliament. One can look into the issue from different angles.
In a talk show, one high profile adviser said that it was his responsibility to keep watch over the ministers and report to the prime minister. This new experiment in governance seems to be misleading and may not succeed. An interesting case in point is the ministry of energy that is headed by the prime minister. This ministry has an elected minister with the rank of a state minister and also has an adviser with the rank of a full minister. The adviser will obviously not act under the state minister, given the superior status he holds. If the state minister acts at the dictates of the adviser, the principle of elected government will be compromised.
An adviser enjoying the rank of a full minister has been given the responsibility to look after the ministries of planning and finance. He is the prime minister's economic affairs adviser. Ministers of finance and planning and the adviser for economic affairs appear to have overlapping responsibilities. Thus, there is potential for conflict between the ministers and the adviser.
Amendment of the Rules of Business to allow non-elected individuals to head ministries and take part in cabinet meetings, if tested in a court of law, has the possibility of being declared un-constitutional. With this ends our discourse on 100 days of the government.
The writer is an economist and columnist