Editorial
Fundamentals going awry
Security and neutrality of public servants must be assured
It is an understatement to say that good governance is fraught with danger in Bangladesh, it being under severe constraints. At least that is what has come out in a discussion meeting on Saturday in Dhaka on good governance organised by SUJON or "Citizens for Good Governance."
When civil servants in charge of district administration are driven to tears and express their helplessness in public, for having no protection from the assaulting political cadres, there must be something very wrong with our system of governance. It is disconcerting to see the inaction of the police when some of the officials of the district administration were being subject to assault. Looking at Pabna one doesn't have to spend much time trying to find out the reasons for the government's failure to deliver good governance.
The Pabna incident, where the students and youth wing of the AL tried to force their will on the district administration's recruitment process under the patronage of the local MP, is but a very naked demonstration of how the issue of governance has come to be embroiled in partisan politics and how the rudimentary norms of administration and law and order are being thrown to the winds. One doesn't know whether there are many more Pabnas simmering at the seams.
The concept of governance denotes the use of political authority and exercise of control in a society. Unfortunately, there has been distortion of political power and the public servants are facing serious challenges.
The three areas in particular where the authority is being challenged by the very active appendages of the Awami League are; first, the tender trade where development work is being seriously hampered because of the effort of these elements to monopolise the development works through what has come to be known as tender trade. Secondly, as the Pabna event has illustrated, there is an unacceptable level of pressure to dictate government recruitment. An even more recent example than Pabna is the Saturday's BSMMU incident where the doctors' group belonging to the AL has managed to get assurance from the authorities to have their candidates, who had failed in the recruitment test, employed as doctors. But not before the VC was subjected to physical and verbal assault. And thirdly, many educational institutions, particularly the public universities, have become battlegrounds between various factions of the BCL, all for domination of the turf and admission trade.
Whereas in the past, the distinction between the ruling party and the government was blurred, that appears to have vanished completely now. And this has severely affected governance. It will be well to keep in mind that failure to deliver good governance is courting insecurity for the state.
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