Government-business dialogue

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Enayet Rasul
The high-profile meeting on Wednesday between business leaders and the highest level figures in the government could not have come sooner. For the urgency of such an exchange of views between the two sides, was being felt direly. According to newspaper reports and assessments of think-tank bodies, the economy of Bangladesh has been slowing down mainly due to a fear psychosis on the part of the members of the business community.
Businessmen have been gripped by a perceived fear that they could be the next targets of the government's anticorruption drive. Therefore, they have tended to be very cautious in their dealings including large scale transactions that the same might lead to the officials of the taxation departments and security agencies descending on them seeking explanation for the source of their money. They are having similar or worse apprehensions about banks' management too. The government-business meeting, therefore, was expressly aimed to allay the fears of businessmen and improve their motivation to engage in their occupations, fully.
But whether a revival of business activities will now occur as the direct and instant outcome of this meeting, is still difficult to predict with certainty. For the assurances that came from the highest level of the government at Wednesday's meeting, are nothing unprecedented. The same sort of confidence building was expected after what the Army Chief General Moen U Ahmed commented in a meeting of the bankers' association. Newspapers quoted the General as saying in this meeting that some bank officials acted like blackmailers and threatened to disclose how much money some of their depositors had in their accounts or even in the lockers if their pecuniary demands were not satisfied. But the highest universal value of the banks is preserving the safety and secrecy of the accounts information of their clients. If their management had been behaving so unethically as the General informed, then the grievances of the businessmen are not difficult to understand. We do not know how far the banks' management were chastised by the General's comments. But if there was noted a swift corrective change of disposition on their part, then probably Wednesday's dialogue would not be so necessary.
The Chief Adviser, Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, similarly tried to assure the businessmen in recent months that they need fear nothing in carrying out their activities with full flair. The assurances were put out by him on different occasions in his speeches where he underlined these assurances through elaborate statements . But the assurances seemed to change little the realities at ground level for business persons and organisations. They allegedly continued to be harassed by the NBR, security agencies and others.
Thus, the outcome of the latest government-business dialogue will only become clear from what things unfold in the coming weeks or months. Business leaders were told in the dialogue that the final list of the ones suspected for corruption would be published by this month. The number would be no more than 220 meaning that the huge number of businessmen not shown included in the final list could become relaxed and engage in their occupations without feeling concerned for being targeted by the anticorruption drive. But no sooner this assurance was given when a leading paper of the country printed an interview of the Anti-corruption Commission's (ACC's) Chairman where he expressed his differences with the Army Chief about a conclusive list of corrupt persons. The Chairman stated in the interview that allegations of harassment of businessmen were not true and that the list of the corrupt people may increase if ACC considers it necessary. So, what was the point of having a dialogue with businesses if the complaints of businessmen were baseless and also what firm assurance businessmen can have when they are told from the highest level of the government that the list of the corrupt ones would not be stretched beyond a certain figure to be told only the following day from another high level of the government that the stretching of such a list could go on ?
Surely, the sort of completely reliable assurances and certainty which businessmen are seeking, are found to be missing in this kind of a situation. They would get at best get mixed signals which cannot be helpful when the need very clear and unambiguous signals from the government.
For the assurances extended to businessmen in the dialogue to be convincing, the field level realities must change. Businesses will be watching and waiting whether this time follow-up steps would be taken to implement the pledges that have been made to them. Everything will depend on this crucial immediate implementation of the decisions which have been declared in the dialogue. The implementation activities must be reflected in the changed behaviour of the NBR, security agencies and management of banks. The sooner the greatest number of businesses get the feeling from the environment at field levels that they are not being actually harassed anymore, the faster they will likely respond by resuming their activities in a full-fledged manner .
Government on its part must get down to monitoring and vigilance activities in the widest and most foolproof manner to ensure that the assurances given from the highest level are being actually carried out-- unfailingly -- in all cases. Very good 'coordination' of policies between various official bodies will be also required to this end.