Is our democracy up for grabs?
PESSIMISTS apprehand perhaps our democracy is up for grabs once again. The caretaker government is yet to make major and effective electoral reforms in order to keep criminals out of the political arena. Politicians with criminal records are back in the realm and continuing politics in their cynical ways, in spite of the fact that allegations and revelations about corruption and scandals have badly shaken many people's belief in them. The worst thing is that we live in a contaminated moral environment. We fell morally ill because we became used to doing something different from what we promised. Concepts such as political honesty, integrity, trust and commitments lost their depth and dimension in this environment.
We must cure this moral illness to restore healthy democracy. People firmly believed that the caretaker government would devise and adopt measures that would assure to citizens clean politics, good governance and adherence to basic values that are the proud legacy of the country's culture and civilisation. But it seems it is not prepared to make any law to stop criminals from contesting elections. It is against the law to disqualify any citizen from contesting election on mere framing of charges against him in a court of law for committing offences; a person attracts disqualification only after conviction by court.
Conviction process is a worst nightmare in our country. Bringing charges is one thing; making them stick in our court is quite another. The institutional characteristics associated with potential dispute resolution mechanisms and judicial system delays defeat the very purpose of such cases. A lot of high profile corruption cases are trapped in legal limbo. Country's ability to display an effective institutional system is seriously in doubt. It seems unless this law is amended, criminals and even proclaimed absconders can easily become MPs. Once an accused is elected during the trial period he immensely increases his bargaining power. He gets the advantage of pressuring the government for clemency or to withdraw the case against him. In such a worse case scenario, it would send a horrible message to people.
Representation of People Act should be amended to disqualify any person accused of an offence punishable by imprisonment for five years or more from contesting the election even when trial is pending, provided charges had been framed against him by a competent court. Political parties are not prepared to cleanse the system. Since caretaker government may not finish the job, the judiciary, the Election Commission and well-known luminaries of media should join hands to stop criminals from becoming legislators. There are really a lot of gifted, devoted people who ought to be given a chance to shape the future we are trying to build. The leadership of government is only relevant if it is sensitive to the changing needs of the people.
Many people in our country do not often realize how the good government can create the macro-economic environment that is vital for sustained economic growth. What kind of government exists and how it functions are of great importance to everyone in the society. In Bangladesh, governance standards are far short from where they should be. Infrastructure development and rapid growth do not happen by accident. Much of our economic reform agenda is still incomplete. The government has a vital facilitating role to play. For example, the government of India facilitated the offshoring boom by setting up advanced satellite links that virtually killed the problem of distance.
Indian top engineering institutes have provided the software firms with educated manpower in numbers that few countries can match. We must accept the need to break with the politics of the past. Despite vast differences of culture, religion and ethnicity, strangely enough, many Third World countries share exactly the same kind of socioeconomic problems. Political researchers are puzzled as to why so many Third World leaders are often trying hardest to cling to power at any or all costs. Many academics and analysts are surprised at the staying power and resilience of some such leaders.
For example, President Suharto ruled Indonesia for more than 35 years. Robert Mugabe's 20 years rule put Zimbabwe's economy in a shambles. Amidst widespread condemnation for his thuggish brutality, he got himself elected for the fifth consecutive term. In Nepal Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, an ailing octogenarian in his sixth decade in politics, resigned only on 22nd July last. Not to speak of General Parvez Musharraf, Pakistan's beleaguered president who resigned of late. Last but most importantly, in Bangladesh it is rather proving to be difficult to put Begum Zia and Sheikh Hasina into political retirement. Both the major parties so far failed to come up with convincing alternatives.
However, the grass seems to be really green on the other side of the fence. For example, in 1990s a prominent Tory right-wing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned over her highly controversial poll-tax issues and John Major became Prime Minister to allay public fears. Mrs Thatcher had to give in to John Major who was more moderate in his views. Not long ago, Mr Gordon Brown grasped the main prize of British politics. Mr Blair has failed then because he and the public have had enough of each other. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Mr Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown now represent a new generation of leaders of the big European powers and their predecessors.
Bangladesh badly needs a new generation of honest, decent and conciliatory politicians to clean up the political and economic mess in which the country is sinking. Great philosopher Edmund Burke once said. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". I think Bangladesh is a case in point.
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