Editorial
Govt intervenes in BGMEA election
Leave professional bodies alone
An episode of pulling an important trade and industry representative body on to the ruling party orbit is being openly enacted. Technically it may not seem so but substantively it does. The commerce ministry reportedly under pressure from the PMO has ordered change of the dates for BGMEA election from January 26 to February 25. What has been predicted for some time has come true. Needless to say, it was avoidable.
In terms of its constitution the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association is fully within its rights to set its own election dates. Originally the election was scheduled for January 26 within the overall framework of the compulsion that a new leadership needed to be elected before March 12 when the present council's term will have ended as well as keeping in view the forthcoming Hajj. Many from the business community remain away from the country during the pilgrimage season.
Let alone convenience, it is a matter of principle that cannot be brushed aside. This touches on the fundamental question of whether any authority in the government can change election schedules previously decided upon and announced by the organisation legally authorised to do so. Yes, if the government had any apprehension to be allayed about any allegation of unfairness pertaining to the poll there could be a monitoring arrangement made for the purpose. This is not without precedent. But why take away the right of an organisation to set its own election dates? It is imperative that democratic principles are upheld at any cost for the BGMEA, given the numerical magnitude of the membership to it and its inherent clout as a high profile amalgam of trade and industry bodies in the country.
The tendency towards having fiefdoms in all manner of organisations has been commonplace in ruling party culture. We have seen how the previous AL government was focused on winning leadership panels in different professional bodies like the FBCCI, BMA et al. The desperate bids to gain control of organisations has a way of keeping the professionally excellent people at bay from leadership positions. So, better leave the professional bodies alone and, if your supporters come out in some strength on their own, consider it as a bonus.
By virtue of the BNP-led coalition alliance's convincing victory in the last general election they could easily keep above the control freak. The nation still awaits their putting that electoral triumph to a better use.
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