Dear Bafi and Others,
As you have sincere feelings to develop Bangladesh, why not organize an
essay competition and/or TV debate based on, "Bureaucratic Corruption Vs
Political Destruction in Bangladesh". If you need sponsors for the prize
money, I am sure there are lots of sponsors to do so.
Thanks and Best Regards.
Shahidur.
-----Original Message-----
From: bafi@yahoogroups.com [mailto:bafi@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Innovation Line
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 11:02 AM
To: bafi@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Bafi] The raw deal that general people of Bangladesh is
getting
The raw deal that general people of Bangladesh is getting The foolish
people elect Hasina and Khaleda to lead them. Both of them are in jail.
But none of their Cabinet Secretaries are in jail yet. They are too big
to be put in jail. You know why? Cabinet secretaries are all good
people, they had no choice but follow the orders of their bosses. But
wait, did any of you ever hear that a cabinet secretary resigned from
his post due to a conflict with the prime minister? No! Yet, Prime
ministers go to jail, but their cabinet secretaries becomes office
bearers of constitutional posts. Bah!
(A personal message to readers. If you are privileged so you can have
dinner with any of the Mr. Importants of today's Bangladesh, please
make a printout of this article and make them read it over dinner, :) We
mean it!)
We have been repeatedly saying that if we are really serious about
changing the fate of the people of Bangladesh, if the CTG really mean
business, the most effective thing to do is to ensure some honest,
effective and competent people gets elected in all the elections - from
unions to the post of MPs. Now, how do you ensure that? There will be
many opinions - those convoluted opinions might have some credibility,
but why go there? Also, if you guys wants to handpick local leaders
using intelligence, that will backfire. Why? If you guys had the
capacity to understand those, then Ershad would still be in power in
Bangladesh. Democracy has to be allowed to grow with the freewill of
people.
It is very straight forward. What is expected of the elected posts and
from the politicians are extremely demanding jobs and it needs extremely
efficient and competent people to deliver. You have create an
environment where people in the individual level are motivated to
contest in the election. Once you have a good number of interested
people, an enabling environment from the government might accelerate the
process. But before that, you have start the process by creating
incentives for those who are capable. The best way to ensure that is to
make what these posts are - make them professional in the sense that
they are very highly paid. The Mayor of Dhaka City should be highest
paid job in the city - if we really want this person to perform.
Similarly, the Mayors of Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and
Sylhet should be very highly paid jobs. The Mayors of all the
municipalities around the country should ensure best paid jobs in the
locality. The chairman of the Union Porishod jobs should be full-time
jobs and very highly paid. Also, all these positions should entitle them
to official residences (a similar practice that we have for President or
Prime Minister). The post of MPs should be very highly paid jobs so
that these positions become competitive compared with private sector
corporate jobs. Until these are done, the country's youth will be
repeating the mistakes of Abdul Awal Minto or Morshed Khan. They will
think first to steal to become filthy rich with some good intention (may
be) in the corner of heart that someday they will start giving back to
the country. In the meantime, the rich do not leave them and
incapacitate the heart to do any good. And alas! they forget what they
were. Even if they don't forget, their baggage becomes so big that they
do not have the capacity to maneuver to come out of their corrupt
packaging. Another options will be the people like Haji Selims or Mayor
Mohiuddins - the people with the street power will be elevated to broker
political powers. This group never understood or cared about development
in the long term. Or its like Hasina or Khaleda. Some simple housewife
or daughter, comes to politics and they are no longer simple. They loose
all their originality - if they had any.
Or people like Asaduzzaman Noor who don't need money or he is not after
corruption. People like him has probably ventured into politics out of
pure urge to serve the nation. However, numbers of this kind of people
who are accomplished and is beyond many of the shortcomings - they are
numbered. So, people like him passes the days in politics making
compromises every step of the way and hoping one day he would be big
enough so he can make decisions for his party. Alas, with the current
structural form - that day would never come. Someone has to change the
dynamics within the structure if you have to develop fast. If you do not
make those structural changes, Asaduzzaman Noor is also another lost
cause in the name of politics - never reaching his own potential.
When all these waste and mis-use of human energy is going on, the only
group that is enjoying unchallenged power and the group which is hurting
the chance of good governance is this bureaucratic circle of elites.
Consciously or unconsciously, they are our burden. This group has to be
challenged with injection of professional and competent brains in the
politics. Its about time.
What we are saying that someone has to think about the monthly budget
of an office bearer. A mayor or an MP should be paid enough so that his
or her standard budget is fully paid and leave some extra when they will
no longer be office bearer. This will do a tremendous change in the
culture politics. We could go on writing a book on it, but you should
just look at any developed modern democracy, you will see the proof.
More importantly, we think, it is the only way out from the current
hodge-podge situation for Bangladesh. If its that serious then why the
proposals aren't moving forward with this otherwise responsive
government of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed? Do you want to hear? Lets try to
guess. Because, your bureaucrats do not think its a good idea to pay the
politicians more than what bureaucrats earn. Or the Election
Commissioners do not think that somebody who will be elected through
their management should be entitled to earn more than them! Don't you
believe this? Off course, this is our guess. But this guess is correct,
otherwise, why won't these proposals go forward? And your advisers (most
of whom are ex-bureaucrats) aren't sure what to do - listen to they
peers or listen to their hearts. Policy making is not so easy - it needs
courage. Kake dosh dibo. The elected prime-ministers don't have the
courage to break out from the bureaucratic tangle, aar era tu unelected
people thinking they have a good opportunity to become famous, but won't
take any risk. You guys should know that whatever you thought of these
jobs while accepting the offer, its not that easy. Fame and success do
not come without courage.
Lets take a second look. Secretaries think that the politicians
should not get paid more money than they get. But when the politicians
do crime, they just follow orders. When it comes to going to jail,
bureaucrats do not go to jail, its the politicians who goes to jail.
Why? Because, bureaucrats were just following order! So, basically
what they are saying can be summarized as follows: Bureaucracy is just
like a tool. You can use a tool for good purpose or bad purpose. Its the
person who should be held responsible if the tool has been used for bad
purpose. For example, you can use a knife for good purpose or bad
purpose. If someone takes a knife (or a boti) from the kitchen and use
that to murder somebody, the knife can't be held responsible. What are
you thinking? Don't you agree with this reason? If that is the case,
then, can't you just throw a knife in the dustbin and buy a new knife?
Eta bolle abaar hobe na. Ebar apnake bola hobe, knife er tu jibon ase!
But knife can't be held accountable? That is the raw deal that
Bangladesh is getting. Since most of the people is still uneducated,
they people elect some fools to office. Doesn't matter who they are,
they will become corrupt. The system is designed that way. Politicians
comes and goes, but the bureaucrats will become chairmans of different
constitutional bodies. How come? One would say the fact that they were
part of a failed administration, that would at least disqualify them to
take over such an important position as chairman of a regulatory
commission. What did they do during their tenure in the bureaucracy? Did
they protest in any instances? No, they played by the rule (read they
did hamba hamba - thats their qualification). Thats how they became
cabinet secretaries or secretaries. All are either incompetent or
hypocrites. Most of the bureaucrats are incompetent - a few are
competent but they are hypocrites. Not only that. The foreigner group,
the people which live in the diplomatic zone of Dhaka or those who fly
in to give lessons once in every other week, all are the hypocrites.
They know very well (from their home countries) that only a
professionally paid elected officials can deliver a working democracy
for the benefit of the people. But you will never hear this basic
premise from any of those. Why? Because, if you get a group of competent
politicians, then how would they be prescribing things upon you! The
current leadership of the political parites also do not want to make the
elected officials be paid highly. Why is that - you might think? Isn't
it counter intuitive that they would be opposing their salary increase?
On the face of it, it might seem that way. But if you think a bit, 95%
of the current leadership knows that if the positions are made
professional, it will attract such competitive people from the private
sector that they would not get a chance in that - assuming elections
will be held in a level-playing field. So, basically its in nobody's
interest to make the positions of the elected officials be made as
professional full-time jobs. Except for the general people. Wait, aren't
we acting on the assumption that - at least the current CTG is acting in
the interest of the general people? Well, these group of emergency room
operators seems to beleive that they have operated on the body, there is
no need to stich the wounds and make room for the new tissues to be
grown to replace the vacuum left by tumors. What exactly we are
trying to achieve here? - our esteemed readers might be thinking. Off
course, this circular allegations will lead the nation nowhere - you may
correctly forecast. And unfortunately, we also agree with you! More
unfortunate thing is that if we do not start this cyclic allegations,
what we have now - what it seems that we are getting - that is also
leading us nowhere. Majority of the people are yet to understand that.
They will realize in another 10 years. So, what is the solution? Or
do we have any plan to salvage the situation? Yes, we do. We have
been shouting for long now. They won't heed to that. Make the elected
positions in the Mayor's offices, Upazilla, Zilla and UP Chairman's
offices and Parliament full-time paid jobs. The pay scale of these
should be much higher than those determined by the PSC. The salary
administration of the elected officials should be done through a
completely different channel, preferably the EC Secretariat. Politicians
go to jail, because the responsibility of failure is upon them. Give
them some space. Make these attractive enough so people start
considering leaving the corporate jobs and serve the country. Its plain
and simple. Only this step can save you all. Also on a different note,
for many of you it might be a matter of being famous or popular, for
some of you are losing some money, for some of you its about loosing
some power, but all of you should remember that most of the people of
Bangladesh, it is about life and death, it is about being able to eat
two full meal, it is about being able to send their kids to school or
buying health care for their old mother. So have some mercy on people.
To the daughter of Bangabandhu, have some mercy on people. Go to
retirement. Even with your own words, you have reached that point a long
time back. So have some mercy on us. Have some mercy on your party. One
day you were called in to serve the party. Its strong now. Leave it
alone and see from the distance.
To the wife of Major Zia, have some mercy on people. Go to retirement.
You have shown enough to the nation. Its about time for you.
To the members of bureaucracy, have some mercy on people. Stop playing
with words, start doing what you are paid for. Also, don't think that
war criminals will come back to your rescue. Don't block the tribunal.
Its coming.
You all had your day for dirty plays. Now, let people have a fair
chance to life. Before we end, let us append a latest example / evidence
<http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=38691> that proves our
allegation that anything having a potential to make a dent (in real
sense) to the power oligarchy of the corrupt self-serving bureaucracy,
that is not progressing. And our intelligentsia or civil society members
will be mum about it. Why is that? Because, the civil society
representation is also taken over by the ex bureaucrats.
Allow us to end this rather lengthy article with a concrete proposal.
The salary structure and its administration of the elected officials
(starting from councilors of union porishod to the elected MPs) should
be part of the budget of Election Commission. It should be their duty to
elect this official as they are empowered to hold election by the
constitution. It is also their responsibility to make sure that
competent citizens gets elected and these people can perform their job
professionally. So they should be paid for full time jobs. Now how do
you determine the salary. Our proposal is EC should set a benchmark
amount (say 500 taka per voter or any lower amount that makes sense) for
the salaries of all the elected officials of the republic. They should
also set a general formula about how these central fund will be
distributed among the elected official as a monthly salary. Next thing
that they should address is to find out a way to finance this budget.
Its not huge budget if you compare the horiloot that happens in the
public accounts (Read the news item
<http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=38691> below, Just let the
ad-hoc public accounts committee to work, you will see. But you have to
remove the incumbent secretaries from this ad-hoc committee).
Currently, EC is supposed to get its budget from govt. ex checker. In
addition, EC should seek alternate way to finance itself. That does not
mean they have to ask for money to foreign governments (We strongly
disagree that our EC's decision to bring in transparent boxes from
outside help. It is not to say that Bangladesh is already ready to deny
foreign help. But the basic governance structure should be built with
local resource. Let them help the national ex-checker where those
foreign governments are hurting us, but not the election commission or
ACC. We should take care of them ourselves, otherwise you will never go
there).
Rather EC should sit down with Mr. Chairman of the NBR. In the tax
forms, the citizens pay the govt. ex checker the budget to run the
country, to provide basic services. Add a separate section in those
forms. Let the citizens pay the 300 taka (or more if anyone wants) every
year as a salary of their representatives. You can make it voluntary for
those who are below the minimum bracket of income tax level. However,
let even those who are below the minimum bracket of income to make this
yearly payment if they want to. Make this donation tax-free. Government
ex checker can compensate any lagging that might be there. For the
election commission, it would also be a good feedback mechanism - to
understand the support they are getting from the voters. We think this
fluctuation of yearly donations will be a better benchmark to judge EC's
overall performance - much more effective feedback than the one they are
currently considering. Giving the voters none-of-the-above option may be
a way to measure the pulse of democracy - but you have to think twice
why none of the major democracies has adopted that. Asking the voters to
support the EC voluntarily is a better mechanism, we think. Or you can
have both and see which one works better. If you do not pave the way
for the younger talented committed politicians to engage in the nation
building, there would not be much that we can do now. But be sure, there
would be time when the current youth might rewrite the stone in your
memory "Here lies an important member of the generation which watched
over the destruction of their children's future". If you thought some
of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to
others. If you have an ear to the columnists in regular traditional
media, please forward it to them. If you have an ear to the journalists
and news editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope
they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence.
Thanks for your time,
Innovation Line
=======================================================
Note: This is a freelance column, published mainly in different internet
based forums. This column is open for contribution by the members of new
generation, sometimes referred to as Gen 71. If you identify yourself as
someone from that age-group and want to contribute to this column,
please feel free to contact. Thanks to the group moderator for
publishing the article as Creative Commons contents.
Dear readers, also, if you thought the article was important enough so
it should come under attention of the head of the government please
forward the message to them. Email address for the Chief Advisor:
feeedback@pmo.gov.bd <mailto:feeedback@pmo.gov.bd> _ or at
http://www.cao.gov.bd/feedback/comments.php
<http://www.cao.gov.bd/feedback/comments.php> .
Also, if you thought the article was important enough so it should come
under attention of the EC, please forward the message to them. Email
address for the EC: ecs@bol-online.com <mailto:ecs@bol-online.com> or
you can use this link: http://www.ecs.gov.bd/contact.php3
<http://www.ecs.gov.bd/contact.php3>
The more of you forward it to them, the less will be the need to go back
to street agitation. Use ICT to practice democracy.
The more of you forward it to them, the less will be the need to go back
to street agitation. Use ICT to practice democracy.
Also send to your favourtie TV channel:
Channel i: http://www.channel-i-tv.com/contact.html
<http://www.channel-i-tv.com/contact.html>
ATN Bangla: mtplive@atnbangla.tv <mailto:mtplive@atnbangla.tv> _
NTV: info@ntvbd.com <mailto:info@ntvbd.com> _
RTV: info@rtvbd.tv <mailto:info@rtvbd.tv> _
BTV: info@btv.gov.bd <mailto:info@btv.gov.bd> _
======================================================
Link: http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=38691
<http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=38691>
CG-formed PAC set to be scrapped The ad hoc body 'violates constitution'
Shakhawat Liton
The ad hoc Public Accounts Committee (PAC) created by the caretaker
government in December last year to scrutinise reports of the
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is now about to being cancelled as
it 'violates the constitution'.
With the consent of President Iajuddin Ahmed, the finance ministry
formed the ad hoc PAC on December 18 to scrutinise audit reports on
government accounts in absence of a parliament.
But the ad hoc PAC is yet to begin functioning as objections were raised
from different quarters including the speaker of the last parliament
saying that the constitution does not allow anyone other than an elected
parliament to form the committee, sources in the finance ministry said.
In the wake of the criticism, the finance ministry is now pondering
cancellation of the circular that declared the formation of the ad hoc
PAC, a senior official of the ministry told The Daily Star on condition
of anonymity.
Sensing that the committee could not be effective due to the legal
debate, the finance ministry did not move to reconstitute the committee
following resignation of its chairman, the erstwhile law adviser to the
government, in early January of this year, the senior official added.
Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar has been opposing the government move to form
the ad hoc committee from the very beginning.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, the speaker said he again sent his
legal opinion over a week ago to the government saying the formation of
the ad hoc PAC contradicts with the constitution which authorises only a
parliament to form a PAC and other such committees, comprising only its
members.
"Duties of elected lawmakers cannot be discharged by non-elected
persons. Functions of the committee [ad hoc PAC] will be illegal,"
Sircar said.
Sources in the office of CAG and finance ministry said the military
backed caretaker government formed the ad hoc PAC on suggestion of the
World Bank and the CAG office.
But, CAG officials said they objected to the inclusion of incumbent
government secretaries as members in the committee. The ad hoc PAC has
three incumbent secretaries as its members.
CAG officials said incumbent government secretaries cannot be members of
a PAC that investigates financial irregularities in government
ministries and other government organisations. For the same reason, no
incumbent minister can also be a member of a PAC, they added.
After the formation of the ad hoc PAC on December 18, its member
secretary, Mahbub Ahmed who is also an additional secretary to the
finance ministry, held an informal meeting with officials of CAG in an
effort to start the operations of the committee, CAG officials said.
Another ad hoc PAC was formed earlier on October 19, 1983. The erstwhile
chief martial law administrator (CMLA) formed the committee with the
then law minister KA Bakar as its head. The then CMLA did not face any
obstacle in forming that ad hoc PAC since the constitution was suspended
back then. But now, under the current state of emergency the
constitution is not suspended, the CAG officials said.
With the dissolution of the eighth parliament on October 27 of last year
the immediate past PAC was also dissolved. A new parliament was supposed
to be formed following the January 22 general elections, which was
stalled due to a political crisis that is still plaguing the country.
Now a new parliament is expected to be formed in early 2009, as the
stalled election is scheduled to be held on the third week of December
this year. So, resumption of PAC's activity is unlikely in the next
eight months.
In absence of a PAC, the number of unresolved audit reports involving
hundreds of crores of taka, and the cases of retired government
officials who are not getting their pensions due to unsettled
objections, are increasing. Moreover, recovery of public money that
might have been misappropriated has also been stalling.
HOW AD HOC PAC WAS FORMED
Following the World Bank's advice, the office of CAG in July last year
sent a proposal to the finance ministry to form the ad hoc PAC. It
however asked the finance ministry to consult with the law ministry as
the formation of it had legal matters involved.
CAG is authorised to audit all the income and expenditure of the
government, and reports it to the parliament through the president, and
PAC adjudicates all objections to the audit reports.
CAG suggested the government last year to form an ad hoc PAC comprising
former justices, former government officials, academics, and
politicians.
The law ministry also okayed the formation of an ad hoc PAC, and the
finance ministry formed the committee headed by the then law adviser
Mainul Hosein, sources in the finance ministry said.
The other ten members of the ad hoc PAC are the incumbent director
general of National Security Intelligence, incumbent secretary to the
Parliament Secretariat, incumbent secretary to the Implementation,
Monitoring and Evaluation Division of planning ministry, incumbent
chairman of the National Board of Revenue, an incumbent additional
secretary to the Finance Division of finance ministry, incumbent
president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, President of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, former president of Dhaka District Bar
Association Fakir Delwar Hossain, President of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants Farhad Hossain, and Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman who
was the chief of Power and Participation Research Centre before becoming
an adviser to the caretaker government.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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