Lofty promises to address major challenges
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Shahiduzzaman Khan
Major economic challenges of the country have been reflected in the election manifestos of the major political parties, so said Finance Adviser Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam at a function in the city this week. Given the fact that the global economic recession is likely to affect, one way or other, the developing countries like Bangladesh, it is to be seen how these challenges are addressed by the party, when voted to power.
Undeniably promises are galore; pledges are huge -- as if milk and honey will flow when they (the political parties) go to power -- albeit voted to power. Is the situation as far as implementation is concerned is going to be as easy as the parties have pledged to the voters? To get the answer, the nation needs to wait for the party to go to power only to see how it handles the most daunting task of giving a concrete shape to actions for redeeming the promises, if it really means business about its election manifesto. Past records are not suggestive of any positive outcome for any party in Bangladesh. Basically pledges were seldom addressed; promises remained hollowed in the entire tenure of a party. Such unfortunate happenings are regularly witnessed by the hapless people of this country -- just being the mute spectators.
One of the main focuses in BNP's manifesto is on reducing prices of essentials, but the party did not specify how it would accomplish that goal. The party which had no significant achievement in power generation during its last tenure has pledged to increase power generation, which requires proper exploitation of gas and coal. However, it did not point out the source of gas -- whether it would be bought from the international oil companies or BAPEX. Also there lacks a guideline regarding the method of coal extraction, which has created a lot of controversies. However manifestos of both the two major parties contain little guidelines for resource mobilisation without which no pledges can be fulfilled.
It is very much encouraging that both the major parties have given economic issues much more importance than they did in the past. Thus, the BNP explicitly and implicitly promises to move forward the economic policies and programmes it had during its last tenure along with others but it has not laid out any specific target for poverty reduction and economic growth. However, it is expected that these would be spelt out when it defines the policy framework for achieving the broad development objectives to which its manifesto has made a firm commitment.
BNP's manifesto prioritises three areas -- good governance, poverty alleviation and employment creation, and making democracy more effective -- all of which are important for Bangladesh. The challenge here is implementation of these objectives. Fiscal policy, taxation policy, interest rates and incentive packages will also need to be concretised for that. The twin problems of the ongoing financial crisis and inflation would be major challenges in achieving the objectives. It is otherwise good to see that the manifesto has put in place issue-specific experts groups for coming up with suggestions in this regard. Along with a "Look East" policy, economic diplomacy will be the base of BNP's foreign policy.
Awami League's election manifesto prioritises five tasks, including those of curbing of prices of essentials and continuation of the anti-corruption drive. AL promises to form a task force along with a centre for collection and analysis of data to help cope with the global economic downturn, and to ensure self-reliance in food production. AL will resolve the power crisis by raising generation capacity to 5,000 megawatts by 2011 and 7,000 megawatts by 2013.
BNP promises action on two 450 megawatt power plants within 100 days of taking office if elected. Both parties promise to build smaller scale plants, and AL mentions importing electricity from neighbouring countries. In addition, BNP promises an expert committee within 100 days to formulate a mineral resources policy, while AL promises a national coal policy. However, neither side has made any reference whatsoever to their stance on the appropriate use of the nation's resources.
AL has focused more structurally on some economic development issues such as growth and power generation with short-, medium- and long-term goals, while BNP has also pointed out to many economic development issues but touched more on macro issues and less on micro ones and focused more on political reforms. For economic development a congenial political atmosphere is needed for which the biggest obstacle is hartal. It should be addressed because it can eat about 1.5 per cent of GDP.
Both parties promise to control inflation and bring prices of the essentials within the purchasing power of the people. However, there are important differences in their approaches. AL promises to eliminate hoarding and profiteering syndicates and stop extortion by creating an institution to control commodity prices and protect the consumer. A consumer protection agency is long overdue, but high prices are due to much more than anti-competitive behaviour by sellers. But BNP is silent on syndicates, and promises to reduce prices by increasing food production, improving the supply chain by better utilising storage facilities, creating a jobs programme to increase the purchasing power of the poor, and directly subsidising the prices of necessities.
On the issues of longer-term task of poverty alleviation and economic development, AL promises to reduce the number of poor people from current 65 million to 45 million by 2013 through a combination of social welfare measures and rural employment generation policies. BNP does not mention anything specific, but it also promises poverty reduction through economic growth. To facilitate growth, it lists a number of steps aimed at industrialisation.
The fight against corruption comes second in AL's priority, and ranks third in BNP's. Both sides promise disclosure of wealth statement: AL wants it annually from 'powerful people'. BNP wants it from all elected representatives within 30 days of their election. Both sides also stated about increased transparency and heavy penalties for corruption. In addition, AL explicitly mentions computerisation as a weapon in the fight against corruption. In the medium to long term, computerisation can reduce corruption through more transparency in administration and service delivery, and it is encouraging to see AL recognise this.
What is unfortunate is that the moment a party is voted to power, their election manifesto finds its place not much on its work agenda. This is not exactly what the people want. The time has come for the electorate to articulate the demand for a legal compulsion for the political parties for meeting their polls' pledges.
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com
Major economic challenges of the country have been reflected in the election manifestos of the major political parties, so said Finance Adviser Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam at a function in the city this week. Given the fact that the global economic recession is likely to affect, one way or other, the developing countries like Bangladesh, it is to be seen how these challenges are addressed by the party, when voted to power.
Undeniably promises are galore; pledges are huge -- as if milk and honey will flow when they (the political parties) go to power -- albeit voted to power. Is the situation as far as implementation is concerned is going to be as easy as the parties have pledged to the voters? To get the answer, the nation needs to wait for the party to go to power only to see how it handles the most daunting task of giving a concrete shape to actions for redeeming the promises, if it really means business about its election manifesto. Past records are not suggestive of any positive outcome for any party in Bangladesh. Basically pledges were seldom addressed; promises remained hollowed in the entire tenure of a party. Such unfortunate happenings are regularly witnessed by the hapless people of this country -- just being the mute spectators.
One of the main focuses in BNP's manifesto is on reducing prices of essentials, but the party did not specify how it would accomplish that goal. The party which had no significant achievement in power generation during its last tenure has pledged to increase power generation, which requires proper exploitation of gas and coal. However, it did not point out the source of gas -- whether it would be bought from the international oil companies or BAPEX. Also there lacks a guideline regarding the method of coal extraction, which has created a lot of controversies. However manifestos of both the two major parties contain little guidelines for resource mobilisation without which no pledges can be fulfilled.
It is very much encouraging that both the major parties have given economic issues much more importance than they did in the past. Thus, the BNP explicitly and implicitly promises to move forward the economic policies and programmes it had during its last tenure along with others but it has not laid out any specific target for poverty reduction and economic growth. However, it is expected that these would be spelt out when it defines the policy framework for achieving the broad development objectives to which its manifesto has made a firm commitment.
BNP's manifesto prioritises three areas -- good governance, poverty alleviation and employment creation, and making democracy more effective -- all of which are important for Bangladesh. The challenge here is implementation of these objectives. Fiscal policy, taxation policy, interest rates and incentive packages will also need to be concretised for that. The twin problems of the ongoing financial crisis and inflation would be major challenges in achieving the objectives. It is otherwise good to see that the manifesto has put in place issue-specific experts groups for coming up with suggestions in this regard. Along with a "Look East" policy, economic diplomacy will be the base of BNP's foreign policy.
Awami League's election manifesto prioritises five tasks, including those of curbing of prices of essentials and continuation of the anti-corruption drive. AL promises to form a task force along with a centre for collection and analysis of data to help cope with the global economic downturn, and to ensure self-reliance in food production. AL will resolve the power crisis by raising generation capacity to 5,000 megawatts by 2011 and 7,000 megawatts by 2013.
BNP promises action on two 450 megawatt power plants within 100 days of taking office if elected. Both parties promise to build smaller scale plants, and AL mentions importing electricity from neighbouring countries. In addition, BNP promises an expert committee within 100 days to formulate a mineral resources policy, while AL promises a national coal policy. However, neither side has made any reference whatsoever to their stance on the appropriate use of the nation's resources.
AL has focused more structurally on some economic development issues such as growth and power generation with short-, medium- and long-term goals, while BNP has also pointed out to many economic development issues but touched more on macro issues and less on micro ones and focused more on political reforms. For economic development a congenial political atmosphere is needed for which the biggest obstacle is hartal. It should be addressed because it can eat about 1.5 per cent of GDP.
Both parties promise to control inflation and bring prices of the essentials within the purchasing power of the people. However, there are important differences in their approaches. AL promises to eliminate hoarding and profiteering syndicates and stop extortion by creating an institution to control commodity prices and protect the consumer. A consumer protection agency is long overdue, but high prices are due to much more than anti-competitive behaviour by sellers. But BNP is silent on syndicates, and promises to reduce prices by increasing food production, improving the supply chain by better utilising storage facilities, creating a jobs programme to increase the purchasing power of the poor, and directly subsidising the prices of necessities.
On the issues of longer-term task of poverty alleviation and economic development, AL promises to reduce the number of poor people from current 65 million to 45 million by 2013 through a combination of social welfare measures and rural employment generation policies. BNP does not mention anything specific, but it also promises poverty reduction through economic growth. To facilitate growth, it lists a number of steps aimed at industrialisation.
The fight against corruption comes second in AL's priority, and ranks third in BNP's. Both sides promise disclosure of wealth statement: AL wants it annually from 'powerful people'. BNP wants it from all elected representatives within 30 days of their election. Both sides also stated about increased transparency and heavy penalties for corruption. In addition, AL explicitly mentions computerisation as a weapon in the fight against corruption. In the medium to long term, computerisation can reduce corruption through more transparency in administration and service delivery, and it is encouraging to see AL recognise this.
What is unfortunate is that the moment a party is voted to power, their election manifesto finds its place not much on its work agenda. This is not exactly what the people want. The time has come for the electorate to articulate the demand for a legal compulsion for the political parties for meeting their polls' pledges.
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com