Going Deeper
Expectations from post-election government
THE objection raised by most of the mainstream political parties to the holding of local body elections before parliamentary elections is embedded in their eyes to the constitutional provision that the caretaker government's sole responsibility is to hold parliamentary elections only and that local body elections should be held thereafter.
This narrow interpretation of the constitution disregards the events that necessitated the declaration of the state of emergency and the extended tenure of the interim government beyond the three month period provided by the constitution.
The progressive political parties claim that the changes of 1/11 were products of their sustained political movement, albeit supported by the general public who saw the country sliding towards anarchy resultant of mis-governance by the BNP-Jamaat alliance administration and by other forces that generally are not expected to get involved in the governance of the country.
As misgoverning by the immediate past government is mainly held responsible for the ills of the country and consequent lack of confidence of the people in the politicians to address their grievances and to remove the obstacles in the path of development, it is necessary to have a clear conceptual idea of good governance or democratic government.
Asian Development Bank identified four basic elements of good governance: accountability, participation, predictability, and transparency. The concept has been further elucidated by including the following: the process by which governments are chosen, monitored and changed; the system of interaction between the administration, the legislature, and the judiciary; the ability of the government to create and implement public policy; and definition of interest by the citizens and the mechanism by which they interact with institutions of authority and with each other.
Some theorists have analogised the political process with a market and politicians as entrepreneurs. Just as markets to achieve best results should be made free from imperfections "generated by information asymmetries, social polarisation, and non-credibility of political promises," imperfections in the political market will create high distortions and impede good governance.
It is generally agreed that good governance leads to higher growth and lift people out of poverty and creates better conditions to deliver social goods. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen states that existence of liberal institutions in India, including competitive elections and a vibrant media, have played a major role in preventing famine in the country since the independence of the country.
Focus has also been given to construction of "political contract" between rulers and the people to avoid societal disruptions caused by, among others, food scarcity that could be more due to the inability of the people to buy food than its unavailability in the market.
One, therefore, is hesitant to fully accept Adam Smith's contention that "little else is required to carry a state to its highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes and tolerable administration of justice."
Latter day economists have emphasised the essential role of the government in providing legal and regulatory framework for successful institution of free market mechanism. Government's mode of intervention can be direct or indirect to ensure egalitarian distribution of societal costs and benefits among the people.
Under the prevailing conditions the observations made by USAID in its Bangladesh Mission Food Security Strategy report becomes relevant. The report states: "The major food security problem is that around half of Bangladeshis remain below the established food based poverty line and as many as one third are in extreme poverty and severely undernourished despite the impressive increase in aggregate national food grain availability."
Unfortunately our experiences in the practice of both democratic and pseudo-democratic forms of governments in Bangladesh have shown that governmental interventions in the functioning of the economy, mainly due to their involvement in corruption, had led to such distortions that our growth, according to some estimates, has lessened by about 3% than what could have been achieved if the administration had been corruption free.
These experiences, however, do not necessarily negate the need for governmental interventions, particularly in cases, where the suppliers of goods tend towards making abnormal profit by resorting to oligopolistic means. The answer to our woes lie more in the prevention of corrupt practices and punishment of the guilty through equal application of laws and not through differential application of laws that may erode public confidence in the rule of law and strengthen their impression that justice can be bought.
As the interim government's tenure is drawing to a close, the people of Bangladesh not only crave for an elected government but one that would be participatory and responsive to their problems and aspirations.
The most important task for the next administration would be to provide affordable living conditions so that majority of the people do not keep on complaining about their inability to buy essentials, and when that has been met to make the next generation educated enough to compete in the globalised world. We have lived far too long a life of inequity, deprivation, and sub-human standard. It is about time that we embark on a course that would lead us out of this quagmire.
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