Fixing Unruly Politics and Policies

The government must ensure education that will provide students with analytical and problem solving skills. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

The current political conditions that have unfolded since the execution of Quader Mollah have become a crucial litmus test once again.
The controversial January 5 election has taken place despite and amidst violence and political rhetoric between the incumbent Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the opposition leader, Begum Khaleda Zia.
So, what can be done to reform politics and policies in Bangladesh? Many demand a change in the leadership of the parties. The current technocrats, bureaucrats, and politicians are getting old. The younger generations have shown promise and hope of reform but they lack leadership. There seems to be no easy answer.
The new government must aim to reform the democratic process of our constitution and political climate. This would require examining validity and activities of the political institutions, from grass-roots to top level, to ensure that the political parties are aligned with the constitutional requirements. The transparency and accountability must be in place to monitor the due process at all levels of the political structure – from union parishads to upazilla parishads, from district-level power to national-level power. But this bottom-up approach of realigning the political system would require institutionalising commitments of the party leaders with our cultural and traditional values, and, most importantly, the stake of the country. The central government must distribute power to all levels of local bureaucracies incrementally and ensure that the powers have been facilitated and utilised. Additionally, the local and national entities must become financially solvent and independent through creating opportunities for development initiatives.
 Tackling corruption, on the other hand, would require a top-down approach, which means the government in power must set goals and objectives to contain and handle corruption starting from its upper echelons and below. Corruption is a social ill in Bangladesh. It exists everywhere – public, private, and NGO sectors. Blaming politicians alone for corruption would be unjust. But it can be argued that the politicians have created a toxic political environment where corruption thrives.

Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

One way to alleviate corruption would be to discourage political parties from blaming each other for corruption. For example, when Awami League (AL) is in power, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) incessantly points fingers to AL for widespread corruption and vice versa. Instead of pointing fingers, actions must be taken by the leaders of the political parties to take and accept responsibility and criticism for corruption.
Another way to tackle corruption would be to give autonomy to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC). But giving autonomy must not exclude overseeing the Commission to ensure that it does not become corrupted from inside its own administration. In other words, guidelines and powers for maintaining transparency and accountability must reside within the power of the government. Further, ACC must need to identify politicians, technocrats, and bureaucrats who are corrupt and those who are sincere and honest, who must have power and influence to investigate and prosecute the wrongdoers.
Cultural institutions such as media must also take responsibilities to investigate and report corruption critically. More importantly, they must be impartial and should not influence or be influenced by the political parties to manipulate information.
Bangladesh must move forward with effective policies to set up economic ties with its neighbors. One such collaboration is known as BCIM link, which includes Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar. This economic collaboration will not only connect all four countries through a prosperous trade route, but it will also enhance energy security for all four countries. In fact, enhancing and maintaining energy security is one of the crucial issues of the BCIM link. The collaboration would also provide Bangladesh with an opportunity to establish a strategic economic and political partnership with China. Another important piece of this diplomatic relationship with China would be to move forward with the much-needed Sonadia deep sea project. The proposed deep-sea port will allow bigger and larger ship to enter Bangladesh and will provide Bangladesh access to ports in neighboring Myanmar and India. This proposed seaport has an enormous implication on economic growth through expansion of trade routes and treaties with its neighbouring countries. Currently, China, Japan, United Arab Emirates, India, and US have offered their interest in building the port.
During the last two decades Bangladesh has made tremendous progress in education sector. According to a 2002 Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) report, between 1990 and 1998 primary school enrollment has increased by 33 percent, from 12 million in 1990 to 18 million in 1998. But this is hardly enough. The education policies must be inclusive at all levels of education, from primary to university. Equally important is the quality of education. The government must ensure that students are endowed with the capacity to critically think and solve problems. Quality research at the university level must be promoted and incentivised. To do that, the government must create a platform for researchers and teachers to create need-based development and international publication opportunities. Selection of teachers – from primary to university levels – must be based on merit, not on quota and influence.
More than a decade ago, Bangladesh had an opportunity to set up a fiber optic network infrastructure at virtually no cost. This kind of opportunity may not recur but Bangladesh is in a position to create such opportunities for itself. According to Dhaka Tribune, there are 100 million mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh, with nearly 70 percent penetration rate of the entire population. This is a remarkable feat. But policies must stay ahead of the pace of technological advance. The government must ensure that the public has adequate and timely access to both technology and information through modern infrastructure and availability of investors of technology.
In order to revive and sustain a healthy democratic process, actions must be taken and proposed solutions must be tested against a volatile political climate in Bangladesh by the winning party of the 2014 election. The government and its proposals must establish their validity, political impartiality, transparency, and accountability to the political constituents and the public. Spaces for all political parties must be created and validated. Participation must be facilitated. Dialogues must be initiated and evaluated with conviction and consciousness.
Earning a right to claim an emerging power may seem far fetched. But it is within the limits and capacities of the people and the government of Bangladesh.
 

The writer is a postgraduate student at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at University of Sussex, UK. He can be reached at: i.ahmed@ids.ac.uk.