Editor's Pick

Car craze

30 January 2010, 18:00 PM
EDITORIAL
A.N.M. Nurul Haque
PERHAPS there is not anything more unbecoming for a public representative in Bangladesh than not owning a luxury car. The government's decision to revive the privilege of duty-free cars for MPs, which has been a subject of strong public criticism since its introduction in 1987, is yet one more sign. Duty-free car privilege is simply another way to plunder the public exchequer. Many MPs of the previous parliaments brought in luxury cars from abroad, reportedly depriving the state exchequer over Tk. 280 crore in taxes, and then sold these imported cars for profit. In the wake of gross abuse of this privilege, the immediate past caretaker government issued an ordinance repealing the provision. But the current parliament did not ratify it. MPs are now getting back the privilege, however they will not be allowed to import luxury cars. But they will receive Tk. 40,000 per month to pay for driver, fuel and maintenance of the vehicle -- which is higher than their monthly remuneration. The government has decided to buy 471 Pajero jeeps for UP chairmen costing Tk. 166 crore. The car craze has also been found in many ministers and government officials. The Anti-Corruption Commission detected disappearance of 2,500 vehicles purchased for various projects which were being used or abused by ministers and secretaries. The Establishment Ministry reportedly notified the ministers to return the vehicles but only 80 were returned. A recent newspaper report said that 97 government officials including four secretaries have been availing 101 cars in addition to their entitlement, mostly for the use of their family members, spending Tk. 6 crore annually from the state exchequer. In his budget speech in June 2009, Kenya's finance minister ordered the withdrawal of all official cars with an engine capacity exceeding 1,800cc as a part of measures to control costs within the government in light of a contracting economy. Ministers and senior government officials have surrendered 488 cars and the finance minister has managed to reduce the government fleet from 8,900 to 6,900 vehicles. Perks and privileges of the elected representatives are under the media spotlight and strong public scrutiny in many countries. British MPs were found guilty of withdrawing money in excess of their approved limits for decorating their houses. MPs including Prime Minister Gordon Brown had to return the excess money. Extravagant claims by the British MPs for expenses have angered the public and tarnished the image of British politics. A five-week consultation on proposed reforms to MPs expenses will be launched to restore confidence in the parliamentary system. According to an NBR source, the Bangladesh government will be deprived of around Tk. 100 crore in taxes for allowing the MPs duty-free car import and more than Tk. 15 crore a year will be spent for payment of car maintenance allowance. The daily Prothom Alo carried a report on January 27 saying that 18 MPs of the current parliament got Rajuk plots in Uttara. Similarly 10 MPs got Rajuk plots at Purbachal despite having house or land in Dhaka city. At least 40 political leaders including state ministers and MPs of the BNP-led alliance government also got plots at Banani. NBR detected 42 MPs of the present parliament including three state ministers, who have never paid income tax, claiming they do not have any taxable income despite spending lakhs of taka for winning election. The government should take into cognisance the public sentiment while providing more and more facilities to such people from the public exchequer. It is an affront that public representatives being elected promising to change the living conditions of the poor, live in extraordinary opulence on public money. To see a minister in a big convoy of cars driving at break-neck speed pushing others off the street is not really a scene that comfort the common people. Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, took bus and train every day for going to office and meeting. This made him more accessible to ordinary citizens who could in person vent their anger at him for a lack of service delivery. If our public representatives took bus and train at least once a month, they would experience first-hand the daily dance-of-death that ordinary citizens experience using public transport. An elected representative of the public in a shining SUV, which is a mobile symbol of his power, considers it beneath his dignity to meet the poor struggling people who voted him to power and whom he claims to represent. The division thus created between the public and their representatives is becoming increasingly difficult to bridge.
A.N.M. Nurul Haque is a columnist for The Daily Star.

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