Economic crisis, crime and insecurity
Javed Ahmad
Economic crisis, crime and insecurity are all interlinked in a chain order. Our government is lucky that they can bypass many of their duties and responsibilities without facing any questions or being challenged by the citizen of the country as majority of the people living here are illiterate thus unaware of the their rights and obligations as citizens as laid down in the Constitution of the country. Even many educated folks may have heard that there is something called the "constitution" but never bothered to find out if it really exists and what is in it for them.
It becomes easy to dominate a mass of people when they are unaware of their rights, duties and responsibilities. "Ignorance becomes hell" for the citizens of a nation when the government is inefficient and corrupt.
Capitalizing on this 'ignorance' of the common people, our political parties and their government bureaucrats takes full liberty in enjoying their life utilizing national resources as their own knowing very well that no one would ask anything about their activities. No wonder why the 'politics' business attracts so many now-a-days!
In early days, people of solvent background (i.e., elites) used to engage in politics that did not have any personal need or interest of greed for national resources. But today, people of all walks of life – Tom, Dick and Harry are engaged in politics. As a result greed has overpowered the statesmanship in the political attitudes. People in politics are not only hungry for power; they are also hungry to have a share of the national wealth by hook or by crook. In Bangladesh, majority of the political party based government members retire financially secure. And no one asks how they manage to do so with their fixed salaries.
People in Bangladesh do not even know that they could demand job, food, shelter, education, health care and a decent life from the government. The constitution has given them that right to demand. But no one demands anything from the government. Therefore, the government is happy and keeps quiet about everything minding their personal pursuits and agendas.
The government would face a real challenge when the citizens would begin to demand their rightful shares from the big pie of the national resources. And when that happens, it would be interesting to see if the present setup of the huge inefficient government would be any good in handling the demands.
As the economic crisis deepens in the country, crime rate will gradually shoot up resulting in insecurity in the society. Mugging, looting and killing is on the rise already and our law and enforcement agencies are unable to contain the crimes. Indian border forces BSF is randomly shooting and killing innocent Bangladeshis and our BDR are unable to shoot back.
There is no insurance for the citizens against the crimes that takes place in our society. Many lose their personal belongings like mobile phones and monies as a victim of the street crimes and there is no protection and payback system for them. It is the duty of the government to protect all citizens from all crimes and injustices. The government should compensate for all loses that the citizens face as a victim of civil crimes. Often police refuses to cooperate with a victim when he or she seeks help from the department. A case hardly moves even when a general diary (GD) is registered at a police station. But they act immediately when a so called VIP suffers any such consequences. And who are these VIP's? They are usually the politically inclined bureaucrats or commercially important persons (CIP's).
Our PM just instructs and orders her bureaucrats to do this and that but never checks to see if those orders are carried out. Giving 'orders' is not enough for a chief executive to get a job done, a certain level of follow up, individual efficiency and credibility is also required to be a good and successful PM. Despite her years of experience as a PM she appears to be deficient to handle the job. She is unable to contain her own reckless party members, never mind the civil servants. The Daily star reported today (i.e., 21-04-10)–
"…On recent power situation, Hasina said some officials and employees of DPDC and Desco are out to make a fast buck and destroy the image of the government through "false load-shedding". Some officials and employees of DPDC and Desco sometimes impose load-shedding in some areas unnecessarily and some of them have already been held for that, she added…Similarly, some pumps of Wasa also start operating without the keys being opened, for which people do not get water, she said…The premier said these officials sell water to city dwellers at higher price by creating water crisis and they even take Tk 2,000 to break queue, whereas the price of a water lorry is Tk 400 only…"
Running a national affair is not a joke. One need to have enough insight and depth of knowledge as well as varied experience (domestic and international) to be able to manage different tasks with different departments and institutions. It would have been really nice if one could just give orders to get a job done. Our PM should know that her civil servants are full of rust due to inactivity over the years and have lost their efficiencies. They are no longer capable to carry out an order as they are lacking expertise and experience as well as knowledge. They just have no clue on how to carry out a task properly. As a result we see delays and abandonment of plans here and there – and not getting anywhere.
In the same newspaper we also read the news, "Milk Vita sales boss suspended" on corruption, mismanagement and irregularities charges; an excellent move by the ministry, but why only the sales boss? What about the top boss under whom the sales manager operated? The PM is now taking the right attitude when she said in a warning tone, "Anybody, if held for doing these kinds of work, will be dismissed from their service."
Yes, anyone who do not do their job right should be dismissed from that position. There has always been a tendency of 'mercy' when it comes to termination of a government employee. This attitude must change. In order to make the government competent and efficient it must follow the attitude of a private company with no job guarantee if and when found guilty. Installing this 'fear and insecurity' would automatically bring the employees to their senses – either you perform or leave.
Politics and political parties should be totally band from Bangladesh. What we really need is a government free from any influences so that they could work independently with accountability. The political jokers come for a five year term having no clue or experience on state matters and create mess all around that continues from one elected government to another. If a strong and efficient administration is allowed to do their job as they should then it would not matter which joker takes office and for how long.
The political sentiment has infiltrated so deep in our administration that our PM openly says who her people are and who are not. This clearly indicates that our administration is fully politicized, which is totally against the Constitution and the Rules of Business of the republic.
People of Bangladesh should come to a conclusion if they would allow this nonsense to continue that makes their lives miserable or should they think of alternative governance. The alternative government that might work well for Bangladesh would be a non-political party based government totally free from any influence whatsoever. Next election is approaching and there is not enough time to prepare. So think and decide. Political party based governments have failed miserably, plain and simple.
References:
Commuter trains to link Dhaka with nearby dists: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/print_news.php?nid=135156
Milk Vita sales boss suspended: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/print_news.php?nid=135158
Good Governance in Bangladesh: A Quest for a Non-Political Party Approach: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jpl/article/view/4584
The Constitution of Bangladesh: http://www.pmo.gov.bd/constitution/index.htm
Government Accountability: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/477/government-accountability
The Politics of Name Change Game: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/530/the-politics-of-name-change-game
Businessperson vs. Statesperson: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/514/businessperson-vs-statesperson
All about 'Double M Theory': http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/print_view.php?news_id=88912
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