Political dialogue
Dialogue is the most popular buzzword of Dhaka today.
Thanks to the Chief Adviser for addressing the nation and straightening up some of the burning issues. Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed hit the bull's eye territory by declaring 3rd week of December 2008 as the time for the next general election.
However, my primary interest was to know about the CTG's primary taskpreparing the nation to hold a free and fair election. Today 6.5 crore voters' registration has been completed, the Election Commission is relatively clean and self governed, the country is under better rule of law compared to the last decade and the independent judiciary is in its infancy. To me, these 4 pillars are absolutely necessary to prepare the country for the election. Hence, we are moving in the right direction. We expected more transparency from the CTG to be a role model for the next elected government; I am sure they tried but the results are below expectation. Now it is time to pay more attention to transparent actions.
I appreciate the speech of Dr Fakhruddin where he sets some topics of the dialogue. Basically, he is asking for an exit strategy with the continuity of the good work that they did. He wants a commitment from the political institutions to ideology, values and vision.
We need a consensus on nurturing revenue-generating machines of the country in the era of globalisation. Our entrepreneurs could not stay competitive if they cannot predict and plan their deliverables. Our students could not perform well if the environment of education is absent. Our workers will fail to deliver if we fail to provide a good working environment. We want an even playing field with clear rules of engagement and the capability to execute and uphold those rules. We want our politicians to fulfil their commitments. We want our elected representatives to go to JS every day to justify the paycheck. We want to see what they are discussing and would like to track the progress every day. Bangladesh has never been better equipped for this than today. We have a number of newspapers and dozens of radio/TV etc.
We have been asking for reform in the political parties over a year now. But I fail to see any tangible progress in this sector. None of the political parties could come out with a “path of leadership” within the party itself. Hence all the major political parties today are divided.
I would urge the CTG and the political parties to host every dialogue session in a transparent venue. Let the people hear what the parties say. Let them experience how you solve a gridlock; let the people know about the utter meanness of power-thirsty politicians. Let the people appreciate the political leaders for tangible results and vision. Above all, let the people participate and pick the candidates who can deliver.
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