Editorial
Election Commission appears
subservient to govt, again
THE conditional relaxation of the ban on political activities, which the government announced on Monday and took effect on Tuesday, could surely have had a better start. The police action at the Naya Paltan central office of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the capital, whereby they took away the key to the main entrance of the office, was a clear manifestation of the military-controlled interim government’s bias against the mainstream of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on the one hand and could be interpreted as the government’s intent to impose further restriction on the already restrictive environment that the political parties have to function in on the other. Yet, the response of leaders and activists of different political parties across the country to the relaxation of the ban seems to suggest that they are willing to make use of whatever little space they are afforded with to gear up for the elections to the ninth Jatiya Sangsad to be held in the third week of December. However, niggling worries about the general elections remain.
We have maintained all along that the credibility and acceptability of any election, be it national or local government, depends on the credibility and acceptability of the authorities that conduct it – the Election Commission in other words. As it stands now, the commission has a poor record on both counts, thanks to a series of actions and inactions that has created in the public mind the suspicion that it may be toeing the lines of the incumbents in their perceived attempt at political engineering. The chief election commissioner’s timid reaction to the chief adviser’s announcement that the state of emergency would not be withdrawn for the elections despite his repeated request for its withdrawal seems to reinforce such suspicion.
The chief election commissioner had requested the interim government – and rightly so – for the state of emergency to be withdrawn before the elections on more occasions than one. While the constitution spells out in clear terms that the government ‘shall give to the Election Commission all possible aid and assistance may be required for holding the general election of members of parliament’, the government had, at no point, shown any indication that it would entertain the request. And on Monday, in his address to the nation, the chief adviser made clear that his administration would not withdraw the state of emergency. However, despite the government’s blunt refusal to comply with its constitutional obligation, the best the chief election commissioner could come up with was a timid ‘we will not make any comment’.
It seems now that the commission may be incapable of asserting its constitutional authority and, worse still, willing to go by the whims and wishes of the government. In such circumstances, to say the least, credible and acceptable elections under the commission look increasingly unlikely.
The sadly familiar tale
EVEN before the monsoon could set in, a launch disaster has taken place. The MV Chandpur with more than 100 passengers on board capsized in the river Ghorautra late Monday. With 44 bodies recovered so far and 20 more still missing, as is claimed by the families and relatives, the rescue operation has officially been called to a halt. Soon, the accident would become an entry into the records books of the relevant authorities and the dead mere figures.
A major reason why the MV Chandpur sank was the sudden storm that came over it, a huge gust of wind which simply made it turn over. There was, however, another reason – the motor vessel was carrying a lot more passengers than it was capable of. That there have been scores of similar disasters previously for exactly the same reasons is enough to indicate that the authorities have treated this sector with utter neglect and apathy.
As there is hardly any enforcement of rules, no surveillance of river safety measures, the accidents recur and death toll mounts. According to official statistics, in the past 30 years, more than four thousand people have been killed in about five hundred launch accidents. Yet, the authorities have seldom done anything more than forming inquiry committees and taking disciplinary action against one individual or more in case of such accidents.
Besides, the authorities have also failed to procure new rescue vessels despite the two vessels currently in commission are in a rickety condition and have been for quite a few years now. In a country where accidents on the waterways are quite frequent, why no new rescue vessels are procured by the authorities concerned defies logic.
It is time someone at the highest perches of authority took the matter of river accidents seriously. First of all, the authorities need to be more stringent in the enforcement of whatever rules and regulations that we have vis-à-vis riverine transport. While so much has been said about overloading by passenger vessels and their failure to conform to safety standards, very little has been done. Secondly, the authorities must enhance its rescue operation capacity. The two vessels that we have now should have been decommissioned a long time back. A move should be initiated immediately to replace those. We have had years of tall talks but hardly any action. It is time to change.
HOME TRUTHS
State on retreat
Tanim Ahmed
One of the most notable features of the interim government’s tenure is the systematic withdrawal of the state from virtually all spheres of public life where it is expected, by the people, and obligated, by the constitution, to play a vital and active role to install a system towards wholesome development and gradual emancipation of the teeming millions passing their days in what seems to be eternal misery
FOLLOWING the recent price hike of compressed natural gas, the military-controlled interim government has indicated that it might increase the prices of fuel as well. ‘Adjustment’ with the international prices of oil, as the finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, termed it, would lead to another rise in the cost of living, already at an unbearable high, further suffocating the masses and adding to their woes amid inflation and a relentless increase of essential food items. Referring to the fact that oil prices have almost doubled since the last time that local fuel prices was adjusted, Mirza Aziz told the media this week that the government could not afford to continue subsidising fuel and keep the prices at the same level as the present. It is understandable that a poor government of a third world country is unable to provide generalised wholesale subsidies. As such, adjustment of the fuel prices is perhaps inevitable, since a generalised subsidy benefits the rich as well as the poor, which Mirza Aziz did point out.
It implies that targeted subsidies for the masses are more desirable so that the resources of the state are not spent on the richer sections of the populace. Specific subsidies that benefit the poor have, however, remained absent by and large while the much-touted diesel subsidies for irrigation have been disbursed about 10 months after they were declared and only after the peak demand of the boro season had subsided. Much of the disbursement, as observers and insiders have pointed out, was riddled with irregularities and not quite equitable. In short, the diesel subsidies may not have been either effective or sufficient to compensate for the increased cost of living of the poorer sections in the countryside or urban hubs. Economic policies of the incumbents have gradually but surely neglected and ignored the needs of the poorer sections although the policymakers do acknowledge prioritising those needs.
Through new decisions and policies that the incumbents are adopting at an alarmingly fast pace, they are gradually pulling back the state’s role. Although there is a general expectation of the public that the government would lend itself and act as a cushion, the advisers have indicated – explicitly or implicitly at different times and in different situations – that the government had nothing to do in the context of rising prices. While Tapan Chowdhury lost his position for apparently making such a comment, Mirza Aziz and M Tamim have both got away. It is not of much significance whether or not advisers are duly admonished for their denial of the government’s responsibilities; the statements are more indicative of the advisers’ perception of government responsibility.
The government shunning away from its responsibilities and obligations to the people is not merely limited to its refusal to initiating a food rationing system or any other such system that assists sustenance of the people at large. This shunning away can be observed across the economy in a host of spheres. The incumbents had begun with ‘corporatising’ the state-owned commercial banks with the notion of eventually privatising them. This decision came within a month of their assumption of power. For over a year that has followed, the incumbents have set about limiting the state’s active involvement in many sectors that they devoted their attention to.
Besides the financial sector, the incumbents have decided to corporatise the Bangladesh Railway, the Bangladesh Biman and the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board. A large part of the power generation and distribution system has already been privatised or transformed into company through appropriate changes in the legal provisions required to bring that about. There are projects underway to bring about full corporatisation of such government agencies involved in water supply. There is no reason why natural gas generation and distribution should not be included in a similar project. When it is not outright corporatisation the plea is for increased autonomy of public institutions, for instance hospitals. That is, of course, if the planned string of reform process does not include outright privatisation that is expected to be the case of several textile industries, jute mills, sugar mills and silk mills. There is a perceptible process to eventually corporatise the management of ports too, while the government has decided to withdraw from all services related to tourism. Although there has been mention of reviving the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, effective measures are yet forthcoming, and this agency remains limited to merely monitoring and reporting market prices periodically. As for agriculture, the government has all but removed itself from playing a significant role in terms of supplying such crucial inputs as seeds, fertilisers or irrigation.
The decision to increase procurement of boro crop is the only instance of increased government involvement but that too has only come in the context of a global food crisis where other governments have initiated measures that increase government involvement in agriculture. This is not to say that the government must continue its involvement in every sector where it did have a presence. But in almost every case, the incumbents’ steps towards reforms have entailed increasingly less involvement and higher costs for the public. When public enterprises such as railway are corporatised, their basic premise of providing services to the people is ruled out by the primary objective of making profits. Even in the case of public hospitals getting more autonomy, it appears that the only effective change in their operations would be the increase of fees for patients visiting public health facilities. In case of public enterprises involved in manufacturing, the incumbents appear to ignore the extent of public welfare that the employees and their families derive out of the operations of those factories and mills while creating a substantial demand for whatever commodities those factories deal in — jute, sugar or silk — and providing literally thousands of families with a meaningful and gainful source of livelihood. Even in education or security that the government is constitutionally obligated to provide for the citizens, besides other services, of course, it is hardly performing at a satisfactory level in fulfilling the needs of its citizens.
This trend of decreased government involvement, quite ominously coincides with another trend that appears to be reversing somewhat — projects and loans of the international financial institutions. During the tenure of the interim government, two agencies, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, between them have approved projects amounting to more than $1.8 billion which is higher than that received as foreign assistance in previous years. Ominously still, many of these projects target those very sectors where the government is limiting its role. In fact, in almost every case, corporatisation, granting ‘autonomy’ or outright privatisation involves requirements and conditions of certain loan packages of the lending agencies.
To make matters worse, these reforms, as they are called, come at a time when the rights of the people are suspended under a state of emergency. An unelected regime of largely consultants and bureaucrats has taken upon itself to decide on the role of the state at a time when people are prevented from voicing their concerns and demands. It is quite evident that the government is exploiting the state of emergency to decide on matters that are essentially political in nature and must be left for elected politicians to decide because the involvement of the state in the public sector is not solely dictated by economic rationale but long-term political interests that a military-controlled regime would be inherently incapable of comprehending.
Perhaps, one of the most notable features of the interim government’s tenure is the systematic withdrawal of the state from virtually all spheres of public life where it is expected, by the people, and obligated, by the constitution, to play a vital and active role to install a system towards wholesome development and gradual emancipation of the teeming millions passing their days in what seems to be eternal misery.
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