People's collective efforts vital in curbing corruption
Eminent citizens tell TIB anti-graft national convention
Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), addresses the closing session of an anti-corruption national convention organised by TIB at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital yesterday. On his right are Selina Hossain, litterateur and secretary general of TIB, Advocate Sultana Kamal, chairperson of TIB, and Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed, litterateur and trustee member of TIB. Photo: STAR
People's collective courage is vital in fighting corruption. Otherwise, the menace of corruption, according to eminent personalities, may turn Bangladesh into a failed state. The observation came at the closing session of an anti-graft convention organised by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in the capital yesterday. The TIB organised the two-day national convention of its youth movement, Youth Engagement and Support (YES), and Sachetan Nagarik Committee (Sanak) on the theme 'Youth in Anti-corruption Movement: Achievement and Challenges', at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. Every citizen is obliged to take his or her stance against corruption, as the responsibility for corruption and rights violation committed through the state machinery eventually lies with the people, said advocate Sultana Kamal, chairman of the TIB trustee board. "Otherwise, we will be treated as a timid nation in history," she said, adding that a nation must struggle hard with people's collective strength to achieve its goal. Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star and treasurer of TIB, said a state with corruption in any of its three fundamental pillars --- the legislative, the executive and the judiciary --- gravely affects the lives of all citizens, a condition that might lead to the collapse of the entire state system. He termed the youth movement absolutely central to fighting corruption and securing the country's future. Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed, noted litterateur and a trustee member of TIB, said all the corrupt and terrorist elements of the country thrived around the two political streams. People constitute states and pay taxes to run the government for security of their lives and property. But the state machinery in Bangladesh indulges in plunder and rights violation, abusing both pen and weapon, he added. Citing an example of police extortion on commercial vehicles passing through the Mirpur embankment in broad daylight and the recent police atrocities on women and journalists, he said law enforcers breaking laws should be handed down punishment five times higher than that in the case of an ordinary citizen. The people of Bangladesh, as TIB estimates, have to pay Tk 9,500 crore every year due to corruption at public offices, he added. Selina Hossain, noted litterateur and secretary general of TIB, said the state and its resources belonged to the people, who must protect those against corruption and plundering. The price hike of essentials by business syndicates had far-reaching implications, those that could create a malnourished child population, as parents failed to buy the required food for them. It is crucial to undertake all the challenges of the anti-corruption movement, she added. Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, who conducted the discussion, said the organisation had dedicated this year's YES convention to the late Samson H Chowdhury and late Prof Muzaffer Ahmad, two former chairmen of the TIB trustee board. Prof Ahmad was a guru of the anti-corruption movement in Bangladesh, he said. The event was aimed at reviewing what the young volunteers have done and learned in fighting against all-pervading corruption relentlessly at educational institutions, hospitals and local government bodies. Around 2,200 of a total of 5,500 YES members from across the country attended the biennial event, armed with the slogan that invincible youth must resist corruption and that conscious but indolent people helped increase corruption.
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