Why is government focusing on unimportant issues?

"Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered a thousand years ago"-German Poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). This writer has been attending numerous conferences and workshops aboard for many years. Every year, I get the opportunity to meet new people from different countries and cultures. Like me, all the attendees never miss the chance to get familiar with the other participants, particularly when we get free time during dinner or sight-seeing, we sometimes ask even some petty questions from curiosity. Every moment we try to know sometime about different environment. Most of the participants are quite familiar with the countries of others. But the problem starts when they ask the name of my country. I am faced with some peculiar questions after I tell them the name of my country. The most common question is "does it belong to India"? "No, it's a sovereign country beside India," I reply. Sometimes, I get annoyed because if they have heard the name of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal or Pakistan, what is stopping them to hear about Bangladesh? Sometime in 2008, I met a new colleague who was the Chief Financial Officer of a company in China. This American gentleman had been working in different countries of Asia-Pacific for almost two decades. When I formally met him and introduced myself, the old and uncomfortable question I heard "Where you from"? I replied "Bangladesh". Before hearing from him "is it a part of India" type question, I attempted to tell proactively "It's beside India". Before I could say that, he told me with a big smile, "Oh! You are from the country of Dr. Yunus who got the Nobel Prize! He is the lone Nobel Laureate in the history of Bangladesh. So, he being the first Nobel Laureate, must be considered as a legend in your country? I saw a documentary on him in a TV channel". Prof Yunus is one of the few people who could project a positive image of the country. On the other hand, the endeavor of some people is to make Bangladesh as one of the most corrupt countries of the world and they succeed because Transparency International is unable to prepare the list of most corrupt countries without placing the name of Bangladesh towards the top. Prof Yunus did something special against the current, and earned a respectable identity for Bangladesh and its people. We should remain thankful to him. We can still remember the day when people of all walks of life spontaneously came out of their homes hearing the remarkable achievement of Prof Yunus. Bangladeshi people are not ungrateful, we proved. People of this poor country started to believe from this accomplishment that though Bangladesh is a poor and corrupt country, it can still be a role-model for many developed countries. General people also got excited thinking that after getting this international recognition, Prof Yunus would work more extensively to eradicate poverty from Bangladesh. It is clearly evident from history that any government effort for the socio-economic development will be nothing but wastage of public fund. This will rather facilitate the corrupt people to eradicate their personal poverty! In this backdrop, the government should grab the opportunity to utilize the well- tested Grameen Bank model and expertise of Prof Yunus to reduce poverty in the country. Micro-credit has been playing a significant role in many developing countries in alleviating poverty. Although the per capita income of Bangladesh is moving upward, a significant part of the country's population still lives below the poverty level. Without pulling these people out of poverty, sustainable development can never be possible. The most deprived section of society in Bangladesh is women. They are oppressed in and outside their homes. Women should be empowered to stand on their own feet. Micro-credit has been proved as an effective tool to make such change. It is true that micro-credit institutions lend money at higher rates. Grameen Bank, unlike commercial banks, sanctions loans without any collateral. Hence, the cost should be higher considering the risk factor. But people have the choice and there is no compulsion. If the return rate of the borrower is higher than the interest rate, they should avail. Otherwise, they should not acquire such loans. Poor people fall in the vicious cycle of micro-credit if the fund is not invested productively. In most cases, hardcore poor people take the fund and use it to manage their family crises (marriage of daughter, medical etc). Grameen Bank or any micro-credit organization cannot be held responsible for such wrong investment of fund by the borrower. The recent initiative of the government regarding Dr. Yunus may give us an impression that it is uncompromising in protecting the interest of general people at all levels. General people would highly appreciate that if such sincerity could be shown in managing the price of essentials, improving the law and order situation, developing better traffic system in Dhaka, improving the power supply situation and controlling corruption. Many irregularities still exist in the financial sector also. According to a recent report published in a leading newspaper, nationalized commercial banks are disbursing loans having informal request from heavy-weight political leaders. This is leading to these banks recording significant amount of bad and doubtful loans which is making them losing concerns. The enquiry committee formed in connection with the recent capital market scam has complained that they are not getting necessary support from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Instead of focusing on the important issues, the government is looking into the petty issues like Prof Yunus, Khaleda Zia's residence, acquiring land at Munshiganj etc which are neither a part of the Grand Alliance's election manifesto nor carry any importance in the socio-economic development of the country. Why has the government been so serious in dealing with less important matters and issues? I am raising this question because I am ignorant. But the answer is known to 150 million people who are not as stupid as me. The writer is an FCA and can be reached at e-mail : mohammad.z.hossain@gmail.com