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The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led four-party alliance government has completed four years of its
five-year term. Now its leaders are claiming impressive advancements in most of the sectors. They say as
the developments in most fronts are enormous, these will be reflected upon in the next general elections.
They are confident of a sure victory.
But the opposition leaders are telling the nation the opposite things. They claim the alliance government has
failed to perform in most of the sectors. As such, it has no right to stay in power. They are demanding the
resignation of the government.
In her address to the nation over the radio and television on completion of the government's four years in
office, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, for the first time, admitted failure of her administration in detecting the
bombers in advance and her government's 'little success' in fighting corruption.
She said steps have been taken to root out terrorism from the country. The government has already
identified the masterminds behind the bombings. She stressed the need for regional efforts to combat
terrorism. The Prime Minister also has admitted her government's failure in fighting corruption successfully
as it has spread to every sphere of society.
But she claimed that some measures had helped to bring down the intensity of corruption. On the present
state of economy, she said the country is facing adverse situation in every sphere, not merely in economy-
and trade-related matters.
She, however, defended her administration saying it is not wise to compare the present scenario with that of
four years ago. Stressing politics must be decent, the Prime Minister called upon the people to press the
political parties to be imbued with the spirit of a better political culture. In this connection, she said the
opposition parties must come to parliament for a level playing field.
Indeed, the Prime Minister has shifted from her earlier stand this year. Last year, she said the bombers must
be tracked down and the corrupt ones must be punished. Now she is talking about her government's failure
to detect the bombers in time. Actions against corruption were also not adequate, she said.
The Prime Minister's boldness in admitting 'failures' is a welcome gesture, no doubt. She has apparently
learnt the lessons from the history.
But the leader of the opposition does not want to play 'hide-and-seek' with the government any more. She
wants straight resignation of the government. She has already prepared a 16-point electoral pledge which
she had unveiled on the same day the Prime Minister addressed the nation.
Laying adequate thrust on the need to keep the prices of essentials within the reach of the commoners,
Hasina's 16-point agenda includes keeping the price mechanism under control, providing free education up
to graduation level, separating judiciary from executive as early as possible, ensuring full independence of
the Election Commission (EC), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the Public Service
Commission (PSC), enacting stern laws to punish the corrupt and bribe-takers, recovering assets 'gobbled
up by the PM's family', introduction of full e-governance in administration and laws to ensure transparency
in expenses of political parties and poll candidates etc,.
However, the present situation suggests that the country's macro-economic stability is at stake. Its image as
a good investment destination is also being imperiled by recent countrywide simultaneous bomb blasts.
Rising inflation is throwing the economy into a greater uncertainty. The skyrocketing prices of essentials
and the rise in transportation fares and scarcity of transports have made life difficult for the people. The
government increased the fuel price twice in the last six months, on the ground of the hike in its price in the
international market. Transport fares have gone up markedly, as a result.
The prices of rice and other essentials are increasing every day.
While ever-soaring costs of living coupled with unemployment have brought relentless misery to the lives
of commoners, the government has made party affiliations the only qualification for public jobs.
On foreign policy, many believe that the country has lost some good friends in the international community
for the "wrong" steps taken by it. Diplomatic relations, which were already tense during the last four years,
have become somewhat more strained with China and the European Union (EU) countries, especially after
the government's recent refusal to endorse the Tuesday Group's initiative to hold a seminar on the best
practices of elections. The relationship between Bangladesh and neighbouring India has also reached a
record low in recent years.
About its pledge to separate the judiciary from the executive, the government seems to be dilly-dallying, by
repeatedly taking a time-extension from the Supreme Court. To ensure administrative decentralisation, the
BNP had promised to strengthen the local government system by introducing upazila parishad (sub-district
council) and 'gram sarkar' (village government) systems to ensure people's participation in rural
development. The government policymakers have, however, split over reintroducing the upazila system and,
thus, failed to reach any decision over this important tier of the local government.
The government finally reintroduced the 'gram sarkar', a non-elected body, to assist the union parishad, the
lowest tier of the local government. But as rampant politicisation and irregularities in the process of forming
'gram sarkar' drew flak from every corner, the High Court declared the system unconstitutional.
Besides, there is a little possibility for the state-run radio and television to have full autonomy. Bangladesh
Betar and Bangladesh Television are rather being used to serve the purposes of the ruling parties. To meet
the electoral pledges, the government has repealed the Public Safety Act, but did not repeal the much
talked-about Special Powers Act.
Against this backdrop, it is important to see how the government would act now at this stage in order to
help stabilise the macro-economic situation and bring the destabilising factors within its control. All
economies of the world are more or less affected by the spiraling prices of petroleum. The issue needs to be
addressed in a coordinated manner.
A package of policy measures is imperative in order to ensure that the poor people of the country are not
affected by the inflationary price pressures. No matter whichever political party or parties is or are in power,
it is high time for the nation to see a multi-oriented strategy in action. Bangladesh has to get rid of its stigma
-- the most corrupt nation of the world. It is, no doubt, is a daunting challenge, but this challenge has to be
met. Rise in fundamentalist activities will also be required to be curbed with an iron hand. Bombers must be
identified and punished according to law of the land. The rule of law has to be established, on a firm
institutional basis, for the country's development and prosperity.
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