Transparency, good governance vital for political stability

Economic development of a developing country is dependent on political stability. Democratically and industrially developed countries around the world enjoy fruits of such stability. However, they do not feel the pains of political instability. Rather they enjoy the gains of stability, just the opposite of what happens in the Third World that comprises developing and underdeveloped countries. Transparency and good governance help achieve political stability, smooth economic growth, peace and progress in a country.
"Transparency reduces opportunities for corruption. Reduction in corruption results in good governance and good governance leads to development", said former World Bank President James Wolfensohn.
The concept of good governance is not a new one. The last decade of the 20th century saw widespread and extreme poverty, large-scale and rampant corruption, socio-economic problems, political conflicts and confrontation, political instability and aggravating law and order situation in the sub-Saharan African countries, some countries in Asia and Latin America. Political leaders, economists, analysts and social scholars now feel the utmost necessity of good governance as a panacea to these problems.
Lack of transparency and good governance is fundamental cause of corruption, social unrest, political instability, economic backwardness and poverty in the Third World countries. These  breed widespread corruption in the government, public and private sector administration, the legal and judicial system, the political system and the whole nation.
Many natural resource-rich countries face political instability and fail to achieve economic goals to eradicate illiteracy, reduce unemployment and extreme poverty to keep pace with advanced world of science and technology. Corruption remains endemic and has permeated all levels of the society. Widespread corrupt practices and deteriorating law and other situation are created due to lack of good governance.
The poor leadership qualities of the leaders of Third World countries are responsible for not establishing transparency and good governance there. The leader must have strong integrity to lead the country but most of them in the Third World don't have strong personal integrity. That is why they prefer personal gains at the cost of the nation and want to stay in power for longer time disregarding public and world opinions. "The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section of gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office", said Dwight D Eisenhower, the 34th US President.
Governance is good when it treats every member of the society according to the established norms. Laws should be applied to both the haves and the have-nots in the society. Citizens, regardless of social status, ethnic origin or sex, literate or illiterate, young or old should be given unrestrained access to justice. The judiciary, as an arbiter, should be independent and neutral in the interpretation of law. Considering importance of transparency and good governance, the international organisations like the UNDP, the World Bank, aid agencies and different NGOs have started imposing conditions of transparency and good governance in the aid/loan agreements with the developing and under-developed countries. Good governance has a number of political, economic, social and cultural parameters through which the state of governance of a country can be diagnosed. Different international organisations, social bodies and good governance theorists have identified the criteria of good governance from 360 degree angle.
The World Bank has identified a number of parameters of good governance that have assumed significance for the developed and the developing countries. These are:
l Legitimacy of political system which can best be achieved through regular elections and political accountability,
l Freedom of association and participation by various socio-economic, religious, cultural and professional groups in the governance,
l An established legal framework based on the rule of law,
l Independence of judiciary to protect human rights and secure social justice,
l Bureaucratic accountability including transparency in administration,
l Freedom of information and expression,
l A sound administrative system leading to efficiency and effectiveness,
l Cooperation between the government and civil society organisations.
Although Bangladesh achieved its independence in 1971, transparency and good governance have not yet been established in the country. As a result, the country, with its 160 million people, has been facing the endemic social, political and economic problems for the last 40 years. The frustrated people of the country are now fed up with the political oligarchy and tyranny. Absence of transparency and good governance has created a circle of mistrust and disbelief in the existing political systems. The people and the politicians don't trust each other and they have lost confidence in the legal system and the administration. As a result, anarchy, political killings and instability have become the part and parcel of the lives of the unfortunate 160 million people. Unabated corruption has its deep roots due to absence of transparency. It has overwhelmed and polluted every sphere of the whole nation.
What is more agonising is that in spite of popular anger against corruption and bad governance, there remains a lack of national consensus on unity against the perpetrators (irrespective of their ethnicity, religion, class and gender). There has not yet been a popular movement that is capable of galvanising the rage of the people and channelling it to series of actions and outcomes that challenge the status quo.
When democracy is abused, good governance becomes elusive and evasive. Democratic governance alone can safeguard the constitutional rights and interests of the common citizens and ensure better performance of the state functionaries. It is still missing in this country. Governance constitutes a major challenge for Bangladesh now-a-days. Its under-performance is visible in many areas of national life. Is there any country in the present world which has more than 100 political parties? Is there any country where political parties have ever called hartals (general strikes) for 180 days in a period of five years?  There's none. But it happens in Bangladesh. Is it not a sign of 'political bankruptcy'? The political polarisation, acrimonious relationship, culture of intolerance, and personal rivalries between the two major parties have hampered political and economic development since the country embarked on democratic path. In fact, it is apparent from evidence as well as pronouncement of our policy-makers and international donors that Bangladesh's improvement in the governance realm is not keeping pace with the progress achieved in some areas of economic and social policies. Such a gap in the governance efforts implies that the political regime management has become a central stumbling block to further consolidation of democracy as well as improvement of the quality of governance in Bangladesh. That is why, despite having passed 40 years of its independence, Bangladesh is still far from the trajectory of good governance.
Quality of governance is considered as a pre-requisite for solving crucial social and political problems faced by Bangladesh like some other developing countries. In spite of having natural resources, huge skilled and unskilled manpower, a large number of manufacturing industries, businesses, banks and other financial institutions, etc. the country can't achieve major economic and political objectives. Problem of leadership in governance looms large in every sector. The researchers, analysts and social scholars have identified some major problems in the way of good governance in the country: lack of free and fair election, ineffectiveness of the parliament due to imbalanced  representation, problem of consensus building, lack of accountability and transparency, absence of rule of law, absence of independence of legal and judicial system, polarisation and politicisation of local and police administration, lack of freedom of expression and biased media, conflicting and confrontational political culture, inefficient bureaucracy and rampant corruption. "Corruption in Bangladesh is widespread and permeates all levels of society; the rule of law is weak and the most institutions lack transparency and integrity structures. This is reflected in the country's poor performance in most areas assessed by governance indicators", reported the Transparency International on November 07, 2012.
Political participation is a sine qua non of good governance. It  means citizens' involvement in the decision making process, direct contribution to public debate on national issues and voting, needs to be encouraged and perpetuated. It's the constitutional responsibility of an elected government of any country to establish transparency and good governance. Bangladesh can't be an exception.
The writer is Group Financial Controller
of a private group of industries.
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