Editorial Courtesy New Age 22/9/10
An affront to constitutional spirit
and democratic principles
First of all, the constitution does not permit either the state or its manager, the government that is, to afford preferential treatment to any individuals or groups in respect of any employment or office in the service of the republic unless, of course, they belong to any backward section of the citizenry [Articles 29 (2) and 29 (3) (a)]. The government's decision to recruit only people loyal to and affiliated with the ruling Awami League then is completely in contradiction with the constitution, in spirit and to the letter.
Secondly, the government's directive for the health department to not 'divulge any information to the journalists' is completely in defiance of the Right to Information Act that the incumbents have themselves piloted and pushed through parliament. The act makes it mandatory for any ministry or organisations under the government to divulge any public information on demand from any member of the public, journalist or not. As such, the health adviser's claim that 'the government is not bound to give any information to the journalists' could be termed a deliberate exercise in falsehood.
Thirdly, the health adviser's apparent obsession with secrecy, vis-à-vis the activities of the health department, runs counter to the ruling party's pre-election promise that 'the government will be made accountable for all its activities'; after all, transparency is a prime precondition for accountability. Besides, the government's apparent intent to divulge information tends to indicate that it has things to hide, especially given the health department not-so-pleasant record of mismanagement and corruption.
Most importantly, however, the decision to award community clinic posts to party loyalists and deny journalists the access to information related to the health department could very well be an indication that the AL-led alliance wants a government for the party, by the party and of the party, and that, although the people have voted them to power to establish, among other things, the rule of law, it is more inclined to establish a partisan rule. Needless to say, the ruling party has already displayed its intent, on more occasions than one, to populate the state machinery, from the centre to the fringe, with its loyalists, the latest instance being the attack on—and the subsequent cancellation of—the test for recruitment to the deputy commissioner's office in Pabna.
In such circumstances, the saner section of the ruling party, if there is any, needs to protest against such moves, which are anti-constitutional, illegal and anti-democratic all at the same time, and so should the politically conscious and democratically oriented sections of society. Otherwise, the struggle for democratisation of the state and society will falter.
Regards
Ezajur Rahman (Junel)
Kuwait
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