CURRENTS AND CROSSCURRENTS
Fiasco at Bangladesh Bank
An unfortunate incident took place at the Bangladesh Bank, country's central bank, on the 19th instant. As a sequel to an unfulfilled demand by one of the employees unions for placement of some officers in certain coveted positions, stalwarts of the Bangladesh Bank Employees Association forcibly entered the office of the General Manager in charge of administration, abused him thoroughly, ransacked his office and manhandled him badly. The frightened beleaguered officer managed to escape somehow and sought refuge in the office of the Governor of the Bank for physical protection. The ordeal was not over. The marauding crowd pursued the fleeing officer, burst into the office of the Governor, and hurled abuses and insults on their chief executive indiscriminately.
The second episode occurred when members of the Bangladesh Bank Karmachari Samity, the rival association, came out in the open against the attacking crowd. The fight that ensued resulted in casualties, hospitalisation, suspension of some officials and arrest of some others. Police hesitated to take cases filed by the Bank authorities and also by the CBA, the officially recognised trade union of the employees in the Bank, against some officials involved in the incident. The police also refrained from arresting some of the accused, though they were seen to have been roaming in front of them, participating in subsequent demonstrations, due to what they stated as per directives of "superiors". On the other hand, the police held some other officials belonging to the opposing or the aggrieved party.
The government constituted a commission to investigate into the incident and to submit its report urgently. Meanwhile, the General Manager, who had been mishandled, has been replaced and the administration itself has been placed with a higher official, an executive director. The Finance Ministry took advantage of the situation, proscribed all trade union activities and ordered the CBA and all union offices to be locked. The probe committee has since submitted its reports and, consequently, 19 officials involved have either been suspended or served with notice to show cause.
An analysis of the events reveals some important points. Firstly, it proves the fact that resort to intimidation and violence to realise unreasonable demands by a group of individuals, in this case being the unions, which is the modus operandi of terrorists, has entered all sectors of the economy so much so that even the apex body of banks and financial institutions of the country has not been spared from it. The central bank of the country has now become a victim. Its sanctity has been ravaged and its chief has been insulted and physically threatened by his own employees. Deterioration of the law and order situation caused deep concern among the employees and adversely affected the morale and work environment of the mother bank of the country.
Secondly, the other banks and financial institutions are sure to have some repercussions of the incident. Bangladesh Bank guides, regulates and controls other commercial, investment and social banks as well as other financial institutions and exchange houses. It serves as a model to them and any act of indiscipline on the part of certain elements at the head of a body does not, to say the least, encourage similar elements in the rest of the body to manifest as shining examples of discipline.
Thirdly, it is not unreasonable to assume that foreign donors, financial institutions and investors would now be asking themselves if it were prudent and desirable to go ahead with their plans of action to help the financial sector and the economy in general. They will certainly not abandon their commitments and enthusiasm, but they might pause and ponder before activating themselves in full gear. The IMF and the World Bank are not satisfied with our performance. The precarious foreign exchange reserves at present which cannot meet our import requirements for even three months compelled the government to invoke aid from the IMF to bail them out of the situation even earlier. Commitment, disbursement and utilisation of annual foreign aid have been lower than those in the previous year. The Chief of World Bank Mission recently held a meeting with the Hon'ble Prime Minister to give vent to his feelings on these and the overall unsatisfactory economic and financial situation in the country. Any deficiency in the proper and smooth functioning of the Bangladesh Bank is, therefore, likely to further erode confidence and ability of subordinate banks to undertake their normal functions to boost the economy through loans, notwithstanding lack of liquidity, and other measures.
Fourthly, this incident has reinforced the deep-rooted apprehension of a large section of the populace about fairness and propriety of attitude and action of the police. According to reports, the police while accepting the cases filed by the Bangladesh Bank authorities ignored and refrained from arresting those who were accused by the Bank. On the contrary and strangely enough, they arrested some of the officials who had been targets of initial assaults. Such discriminatory actions of the police, at the behest of whoever may it be, has become widespread throughout the country and is no longer strange now. All these happened, believably, because of instructions, though not written ones, emanating from the higher authorities. It does not take long to figure out for anyone who these 'higher authorities' are. People do know this type of undue use of law enforcing agents is taking place rampantly in many places in the country, but they are surprised this happened under their very nose, in the heart of the city and in no place other than on the premises of the most protected and the most precious custodian of nation's financial wealth.
Finally, the prompt remedial action taken by the government to ban the CPD and various unions as well as to prohibit trade union activities in the Bank has evinced generally positive reaction. A stern action taken by the government of the late Justice Sattar, in a similar situation, by axing hundreds or thousands of Bank employees received similar acclaim. Fruits of his action, however, could not be reaped for long, as the subsequent government of President Ershad reinstated a bulk of the sacked employees. Although holding of processions on the Bank premises had been prohibited, implementation of this and other restrictions was, indeed, very poor, rather non-existent.
In that context, government actions appear justifiable. On the other hand, as the CPD election had been won by pro-BNP Bangladesh Bank Karmachari Samity and the conflict had been initiated by the defeated pro-Awami League Bangladesh Bank Employees Association, in the opinion of some critics, government gleefully took the action promptly in the name of banking reforms and demands of the IMF and the World Bank.
Irrespective of the real motive the proscription of trade union activities in Bangladesh Bank is a welcome step forward. Horrific stories have come to people's notice now as to the unhealthy and corrupt atmosphere which had been created by allowing the spread of strong tentacles of trade union activities in banks throughout the country. The union officials spare little efforts and less time to promote their collective well-being. Their main objectives and actions are generally geared to aggrandise their own material interests through obtaining mostly improper loans and other favours by exercising undue influence. Despite dependence of our major political parties on such pressure groups for various reasons, one should try to dissuade them from resorting to activities which are not in the real interest of the nation. At the same time, union officials should be encouraged to engage themselves in activities as true members of the respected banking sector of the economy.
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