Readers Respond
Here are some comments that came in response to Sunday's The Daily Star report headlined “Govt looks to AL left-outs”.
Nasarullah
We hope Khulna would have a full cabinet minister and that the honourable prime minister would nominate those who contributed well and were honest and sincere in work. Tajul Islam, Beijing
This has been long overdue. Adding old politicians is not going to do much. Many of the politicians are too old and lack in energy and ideas. Most grew up as student leaders with no real credit of managing development or running businesses. They are good orators but not good managers or workers. We have seen their performance during the last Awami League's term. The prime minister should engage a handful of successful technocrats (although we do not have many in the country now and if needed, should be brought from overseas) and real businessmen (who may volunteer for public service) to support its development. Awami League should change its image as a pro-poor party to a pro-business party to be successful. A Bangladeshi, USA
Thanks for the speculation. A long awaited decision of the prime minister. The prime minister already knows that she has been put to carry all the load of failures and wrong decisions of the government. But why? The Awami League has two third majority in parliament; more than 4 dozen ministerial aides including 7 formally appointed advisers; names and numbers of the informal policy makers were not made public; and the whole set of bureaucracy is working for the government. Besides, there are parliamentary committees and standing committees of the Awami League to support the prime minister for policy making and execution. But what we see in reality is that the prime minister is shouldering responsibilities of all wrong policies. All the above bodies and aides are not in the picture at all, making the prime minister a helpless defender or offender. The two recent cases like the Arial Beel project and crossfire issue are glaring examples. In a parliamentary democracy, the cabinet is the forum of all policy decision and collectively responsible to the parliament. This picture is completely missing in governance and consequently what emerges is that the prime minister takes all the decisions (unilaterally in isolation of the system) and is responsible for all the rights or wrongs. While changing the cabinet, the prime minister must look for efficient and effective politicians for people's welfare. Better be less dependent on bureaucrats cum politicians. They too have many agendas and communication links to follow. I think the media can easily forecast the possible dropouts for various reasons and suggest good incoming members. Dr Karim
The cabinet should not be reshuffled to satisfy group A or group B including leftists. Rather efficiency should be a cost effective decision because she is the prime minister of the nation, not Awami League. Reshuffle in administration is also mandatory from top to bottom and only meritorious people, regardless of seniority, is the only criteria through which good governance can be confirmed, if we really want a 'Digital Bangladesh'. Msa
What will the new ministers do? Get rid of your advisors and the cabinet will properly function automatically. Mahboob Hossain, Hamilton
I hope and wish our honourable prime minister will appoint Menon, Inu and one or two more from Jatiya Party. That will give you more support from people and you will see the change in people's eyes. It is a win-win situation and will improve your image. Manzoor
High performers, who are not short in supply in Awami League, should be inducted in the cabinet replacing the non-deliverers without any further delay. Time is fast running out. Wind Peace
Honourable prime minister and the Leader of the Opposition of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. Please take lessons from the recent Arab world politics and people's movements. Please do not daydream that your sons would one day be able get the dynasty. Democratic mass movements in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen will influence the whole African, Asian and Latin American countries. Please go for good governance otherwise people will throw you and your family out from the dynasty. History comes and goes around. London Eye
With due respect, honourable prime minister is advised to kindly bring in someone from Jatiya Party this time. In Britain, the conservative democratic coalition has more heads of liberal democratic MPs than the conservatives. Their sacrifice worked well and I am sure this will work on Bangladesh's part too. Anonymous
Although it is necessary to reshuffle the cabinet, we have been only hearing this for a along time. Two years have passed with unsatisfactory performance of several ministries. I hope the prime minister keeps her promise.
We hope Khulna would have a full cabinet minister and that the honourable prime minister would nominate those who contributed well and were honest and sincere in work. Tajul Islam, Beijing
This has been long overdue. Adding old politicians is not going to do much. Many of the politicians are too old and lack in energy and ideas. Most grew up as student leaders with no real credit of managing development or running businesses. They are good orators but not good managers or workers. We have seen their performance during the last Awami League's term. The prime minister should engage a handful of successful technocrats (although we do not have many in the country now and if needed, should be brought from overseas) and real businessmen (who may volunteer for public service) to support its development. Awami League should change its image as a pro-poor party to a pro-business party to be successful. A Bangladeshi, USA
Thanks for the speculation. A long awaited decision of the prime minister. The prime minister already knows that she has been put to carry all the load of failures and wrong decisions of the government. But why? The Awami League has two third majority in parliament; more than 4 dozen ministerial aides including 7 formally appointed advisers; names and numbers of the informal policy makers were not made public; and the whole set of bureaucracy is working for the government. Besides, there are parliamentary committees and standing committees of the Awami League to support the prime minister for policy making and execution. But what we see in reality is that the prime minister is shouldering responsibilities of all wrong policies. All the above bodies and aides are not in the picture at all, making the prime minister a helpless defender or offender. The two recent cases like the Arial Beel project and crossfire issue are glaring examples. In a parliamentary democracy, the cabinet is the forum of all policy decision and collectively responsible to the parliament. This picture is completely missing in governance and consequently what emerges is that the prime minister takes all the decisions (unilaterally in isolation of the system) and is responsible for all the rights or wrongs. While changing the cabinet, the prime minister must look for efficient and effective politicians for people's welfare. Better be less dependent on bureaucrats cum politicians. They too have many agendas and communication links to follow. I think the media can easily forecast the possible dropouts for various reasons and suggest good incoming members. Dr Karim
The cabinet should not be reshuffled to satisfy group A or group B including leftists. Rather efficiency should be a cost effective decision because she is the prime minister of the nation, not Awami League. Reshuffle in administration is also mandatory from top to bottom and only meritorious people, regardless of seniority, is the only criteria through which good governance can be confirmed, if we really want a 'Digital Bangladesh'. Msa
What will the new ministers do? Get rid of your advisors and the cabinet will properly function automatically. Mahboob Hossain, Hamilton
I hope and wish our honourable prime minister will appoint Menon, Inu and one or two more from Jatiya Party. That will give you more support from people and you will see the change in people's eyes. It is a win-win situation and will improve your image. Manzoor
High performers, who are not short in supply in Awami League, should be inducted in the cabinet replacing the non-deliverers without any further delay. Time is fast running out. Wind Peace
Honourable prime minister and the Leader of the Opposition of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. Please take lessons from the recent Arab world politics and people's movements. Please do not daydream that your sons would one day be able get the dynasty. Democratic mass movements in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen will influence the whole African, Asian and Latin American countries. Please go for good governance otherwise people will throw you and your family out from the dynasty. History comes and goes around. London Eye
With due respect, honourable prime minister is advised to kindly bring in someone from Jatiya Party this time. In Britain, the conservative democratic coalition has more heads of liberal democratic MPs than the conservatives. Their sacrifice worked well and I am sure this will work on Bangladesh's part too. Anonymous
Although it is necessary to reshuffle the cabinet, we have been only hearing this for a along time. Two years have passed with unsatisfactory performance of several ministries. I hope the prime minister keeps her promise.
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