Political reform: Myth and reality
Daily Star 23/7/08
G. M. Quader
POLITICAL reform means reform of political parties and all the political institutions connected with political practice for functioning and advancement of the political process.
The Jatiya Sangsad (JS), the Election Commission (EC), and the executive branch (EB) may be considered as political institutions. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Public Service Commission (PSC), University Grants Commission (UGC) etc., with their controlling and regulating authority of different activities concerning vital public interest may be considered political institutions.
In a democratic society the most important political institution is the political party, which is a group of people who share a common ideology and have similar views on national and international issues. This enables the people to select a person on the basis of his/her personal qualities, along with the appeal of the political party to which he/she belongs after evaluating its programs and ideology.
The party that gets the most votes forms the government, which has lots of responsibilities and has to be bestowed with power and authority to fulfill its obligations.
It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There has to be a system of checks and balances in respect of governance. The responsibility for creating this environment of accountability lies on the elected representatives who are not in government (known as opposition). In doing so they are also to ensure that the government is representing the people through its activities by reflecting their hopes and aspirations.
Political parties form the government and run it. They carry out the responsibility of the opposition to keep the government on track by ensuring accountability.
So, it is, in fact, the responsibility of the political parties to build and strengthen all the other supporting political institutions so that governance can function as smoothly and effectively as possible. For strengthening the political institutions any reform, if needed, falls within the responsibility of political parties. At the same time, sustainability of the effectiveness of political institution depends on them.
On the other hand, if the political parties do the opposite by serving their personal and party interests, the institutions could be used to create havoc for the nation. A few are given below.
During the last government it was widely believed that the EC was made partisan to the four-party alliance to frustrate the right of the people to choose their representatives as per their free will. The political stalemate created as a result is still hanging over our heads.
Rampant misuse of authority by the allegedly partisan PSC in appointing substandard candidates in different branches of administration, law enforcing agencies, judiciary etc., in line with partisan interest distorted the effectiveness of administration and made good governance difficult, not only for the present but also for the next 20 to 30 years at least.
It is alleged that people with a record of corruption and criminal charges like hijacking, extortion, vandalism etc., got appointment as law enforcers during the last alliance government.
Persons responsible for this sort of appointment would surely receive dividends from the beneficiaries of irregularities in law enforcing, judiciary etc. But the people at large have to pass sleepless nights because of insecurity and non-receipt of justice and good governance.
How the ACC was made ineffective, allegedly in order to overlook corruption by the last government, is too well known to be mentioned in detail.
As a matter of fact, even if reform measures are taken to enhance effectiveness of all other political institutions excepting political parties, the same might be jeopardised if the political parties who will run the show afterwards do not continue with them.
So, reform should begin with the reform of political parties. Without that all other reforms could become meaningless and ineffective.
Reform of political parties is the most difficult task in the context of our country. We are not comparable to any other country of the world. This country is unique because here all the political parties and political personalities themselves accepted the allegation that they were not capable of seeing national pride or interest over partisan interest. Introduction of the caretaker government (CTG) system is an example.
The system of non-partisan caretaker government was introduced for conducting free and fair elections. Political governments elected by the people hand over power to a selected non-political caretaker government after completion of their tenure. It is an accepted fact that political parties while in power do neither have the capability nor desire to conduct a free and fair election without manipulation.
Of course, introduction of the caretaker system was a pragmatic approach considering the realities. Political parties and the people by and large extended support to that concept considering the existing situation. But does not that confirm the negative character of our politics and political parties that they are incapable of sustaining democratic culture and ethics due to lack of sincerity and honesty?
The fifth parliament, on the first day of its first session, re-introduced parliamentary form of governance in a unanimous decision of all parties in the parliament. Parliamentary system means that parliament would be the centre of all governmental activities. The Member of Parliament's (MP) role would be supreme and vital. MPs would form the government, administer, give guidance and make government accountable to people.
But, the system was introduced by clipping the MP's right to decide independently, making the parliament virtually a rubber-stamp parliament. That has given rise to dictatorial rule by the prime minister (PM), without any accountability, thus breeding pervasive corruption.
The reason given for this was that MPs were not reliable enough and could be bought and sold, causing vulnerability of the government. The parliamentary system is based on MPs, but it was made ineffective by the assumption that MPs were dishonest. At the same time, is not it pointing fingers to the ability of our voters of electing suitable MPs, thereby raising the suspicion that people by and large are not fit enough to practice democracy?
Political parties, while in power, used and misused facilities, and opposed and boycotted parliament while out of power. Never was any initiative taken to address the said contradiction of the system.
There is no denying the fact that political parties need thorough reforms for practicing sustainable and meaningful democracy that would continue to provide people-oriented and accountable government. So far, no mentionable sign in that respect is visible. Without reform of the political parties, other reforms carried out, or in the process, will neither be useful nor permanent.
G. M. Quader is a former Member of Parliament.
[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
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