Absolute power

A fractured mandate brought the BNP led alliance to power and once they were in power the peoples' perception was that the alliance government would engage all its efforts to improve the lot of the suffering masses. The mandate for this government, if there was any, was a negation of dynastic impulses and an endorsement of the idea of a nation.

At the fag end of their rule, the party would like to term it a commemorative moment, though there is hardly anything to celebrate because what actually happened was contrary to the people's expectations.

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As the BNP-led alliance leaves office in October, there can only be a deep sigh of relief, or a shudder of disillusionment, or a sense of indifference among those who wanted to see the chief executive as the chosen person of great change. Power has not only corrupted the party and its stalwarts, it has immobilised them. This is abundantly clear.

Take a look at the way this government ruled the country for two terms interspersed by AL rule in the intervening period. The first term was too brief to be of any consequence except perhaps the symbolism of the coronation of the country's right wing government. The second term was eventful: launching of Saarc Summit and rise of the extremist ideology and JMB operatives in the country.

Remarkably, the second term was a grand gesture, with feet in Dhaka and eyes on some wealthy Muslim countries in the Middle East. But the gesture was soon wiped out by the explosions and series of blasts that rocked the country from Teknaf to Tetulia, taking a heavy toll of precious human lives including judges, academics, journalists, lawyers, businessmen and parliamentarians.

This was a moment of national catharsis. The term has now come to an inglorious end when the government is facing enormous challenges on all fronts: unbridled corruption, moral decay, political stagnation, accumulation of wealth in some unscrupulous hands, proliferation of extremist ideologies, price hike of essentials and politicisation of the administration.

The alliance government, it seems, will walk out not like heroes in the cause of the people, but like one betrayed, not by the people, but by its partners and sycophants. If the people brought them to power, as they often say, there was a groundswell of faith and it was up to the alliance government to turn that popular faith into performance.

It didn't happen. The last five years of BNP-led alliance in power saw only instances of hope abandoned and trust betrayed.

Starting from the unilateral appointment of Justice MA Aziz as CEC, that rendered the whole election process fraught with dire uncertainties, inability to contain the price hike of essentials, turning a deaf ear to non-government school teachers' demands of nationalisation of their services, dismal situation in the power sector with no increase of even by a watt in the generation capacity during the last five years, the performance of the government has been anything but good.

Things could get better if the stalwarts in the alliance government understood the importance of good governance, if in their speeches in meetings, and before media, they had articulated exactly what they planned to do about the things that went wrong. Instead what we got were polemics and platitudes and political alliances with parties of diverse ideologies so shamefully crafted into a marriage of convenience, regardless of their inglorious records during the liberation war.

But undeniably true, there was and there is stability in the chair and no political threat to anybody's position, even no proactive opposition to make the best use of a bad situation, but there are no stirrings of change in the country. Politically the balance sheet is pathetic. Despite the PM being in permanent national focus, there seems to be no agenda, no vision. The only promise or the agenda that is being realised is a chance for the exploiters, extortionists corrupt officials and political mastans to have a field day. The PMO must have known about what is going on but it appears incapable of taking action against officials and the closest associates of the ruling alliance who are so openly insubordinate and brazenly corrupt.

The answers are hard to come by. Could it be that the chief executive is just tired of the whole situation and cannot bestir herself into showing even a flicker of leadership?

One of the most infuriating features of the country as well as the government is that time, and timeliness, have no value. The last few months were dominated by events that demonstrated the grave consequences of allowing things to slide. It started with the unilateral appointment of Justice MA Aziz as CEC and then the events took a full circle.

Even after the government has been convinced that the present CEC is wasting precious time and is guilty of the abuse of peoples' money and power, as is evident from the statements of several influential ministers, it has shown callous indifference and did not resort to the last weapon of removing him through formation of a judicial council as required by the constitution.

These are the most critical times for Bangladesh. As the alliance government struggles to address a range of social and economic ills with little success, the last thing people need is further tension, chaos and uncertainties. Unfortunately trouble is at hand and the government cannot put the blame at anyone else's door, because the government, even if it can foresee the catastrophic situation the country is heading to, has done precious little to retrieve the country out of the quagmire of petty politics.

The danger is inherent in the statement of the law minister that even if the opposition parties do not participate in the election, it will not create any constitutional crisis, which is a fair indication of the grand plan, or the road map, some parties or vested groups have designed.

True, the CEC's post is constitutional and he cannot be removed unless he opts to go out willingly, or at his pleasure, but his pleasure should not end up being the people's pain. The legal connotation "constitutional immunity" oft repeated concerning the CEC's post is a double-edged sword. As people have found, it is being used as much to hide the real story as tell it.

The alliance government has to realise that an EC, completely independent of the PMO, and which can work independently, transparently, reliably and with neutrality and fairness will be able to deliver the goods that people look forward to at this critical juncture of the nation.

In the latest bout of the war of words with the CEC, the finance minister, by refusing to allocate fresh fund for the EC to update the flawed voter list that was prepared in violation of the High Court verdict, has earned total support of the people.

The finance minister rightly echoed the sentiment of the people when in a meeting with EC officials, he said that as the guardian of the exchequer he has a constitutional responsibility to ensure that funds allocated to a particular institution was being properly spent although people from their past experiences knew it for certain that accountability is the last thing that some holders of public office go by, least of all Justice Aziz, who has given a dismal account of himself from the time he assumed his office.

Why can't the present CEC realise that at this critical juncture of the nation, EC is an institution that can only survive and work on credibility. Unbefitting conduct of the CEC, who is himself a judge, affects the institution as a whole. It can't be that judges will be judging others' lapses but when it comes to themselves, they won't let minor things like ethics stand in their way.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.