Sheikh Hasina's Jumbo Cabinet: Galvanising Party Apparatus
The expansion and reshuffle were necessitated by certain considerations, the most prominent among which is to demonstrate to the opposition Sheikh Hasina's show of strength that her party stands solid to face its agitation. It has been apparently designed to galvanise and rejuvenate the party apparatus with the infusion of new blood and lead the party to upazilla, zilla parishad and finally to the general elections.
In a surprise move on the millennium eve Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expanded and enlarged her cabinet raising the strength of its members from thirty-six to forty-five. It is, by far, the biggest ever cabinet in the annals of Bangladesh, pre- and post-independent included. If Atal Behari Vajpayee's seventy-plus member cabinet for nearly a billion people in neighbouring India could be termed a jumbo, then there is no reason why Sheikh Hasina's almost fifty-member (eventually it is going to be forty-six) cabinet in a country populated by about one hundred thirty million people should not be regarded as such. And mind it, Bangladesh is much, much poorer and backward than India.
Alongside expansion, Sheikh Hasina has also reshuffled the portfolios of some of the very important ministers, who were holding for long more than one portfolio. This was the first major expansion and reshuffle of the cabinet after the ruling Awami League assumed power on March 23, 1996. The size of the cabinet, inclusion of personalities and allocation of portfolios all demonstrated that the Prime Minister tried to accommodate various pressure groups active inside the party, whom she could no longer ignore in view of the war-footing of an increasingly desperate opposition. The northern region of the country where the AL had a poor showing on June 12, 1996 hustings and so long remained not properly represented as was deeply felt by its leaders and workers, has, largely been benefited due to this expansion. Of the nine new members inducted, at least five belonged to the northern parts. Earlier the scale tilted heavily towards the southern region.
Party presidium members Amir Hussain Amu and Abdul Jalil, who failed to make it to parliament, vied unsuccessfully for party Secretary General during the last council session in December 1996, and remained disgruntled, were taken under technocrat quota which has recently been turned into berths for accommodating non-MP party leaders and the MPs to be horse traded from the opposition. Keeping aside ten per cent quota of the cabinet posts for the technocrats were always filled up by bureaucrats and the very same people (non-MP political leaders). Very rarely any real and genuine technocrat was made minister under any political government. Then what is the necessity and utility of the technocrat quota or is there a dearth of technocrats in the country?
In the reshuffle, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cousin and leader of her youth front Sheikh Selim, who is the editor of a vernacular daily, has got the prize portfolio of health and family planning having the second largest budgetary allocation. No tears were shed for Salahuddin Yusuf, who was, by and large, non-functioning and made himself highly controversial for his arbitrary decisions. Yusuf has been made a minister without portfolio. The reshuffle has greatly stunned the high profile minister Tofail Ahmed, who was simultaneously holding the portfolios of trade and commerce (the two portfolios were amalgamated since the time of the last BNP government) and the unofficial spokesman of the ruling party in parliament. He lost the commerce which has been given to the new entrant Abdul Jalil. It was, no doubt, a shock and a jolt for Tofail, who thought he had done a great service to the country at the recently-concluded WTO-organised global trade conference through securing quota concessions for the RMG sector in the market of the developed countries.
Matia Chowdhury's wings have also been further clipped. Earlier, Advisor Anisuzzaman used to indirectly oversee her portfolio of agrilculture. In the present reshuffle she lost the food ministry to Amir Hussain Amu. Party Secretary General and Deputy leader in parliament Zillur Rahman's rural development division has been given to Advocate Rahmat Ali who has been made a state minister. Portfolios of other Ministers, who were holding more than one portfolio, remained unchanged. But they will now have state ministers under them to share their work-load (and in some cases to act as check-backs particularly in those ministries held by the two non-Awami Leaguers). Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, whose plot distributions in Dhaka and Chittagong cities earned for him public wrath, remained unscathed. Dr. Ala Uddin Ahmed who lost his position as State Minister for floor crossing, is back after winning his seat in Charghat, Rajshahi this time on Awami League ticket. No incumbent has lost his/her job despite allegations of incompetence against a number of sitting ministers. The reshuffle and expansion have not, thus, brought about the much-vaunted face-lift.
The expansion and reshuffle were necessitated by certain considerations, the most prominent among which is to demonstrate to the opposition Sheikh Hasina's show of strength that her party stands solid to face its agitation. It has been apparently designed to galvanise and rejuvenate the party apparatus with the infusion of new blood and lead the party to upazilla, zilla parishad and finally to the general elections. This also shows that Sheikh Hasina has no mind to give in to the opposition demand and hold early elections. Right at this moment she is attaching priority to holding the local body elections like the upazilla and zilla parishads. She is also not seemingly much concerned about opposition participation in these polls. She wants to have her party people placed in all tiers of local body administration so that during the general elections the machinery can act in favour of her party. How far the opposition parties can go in resisting these elections is to be seen in the coming days. If the last year's municipal polls be any guide the upzilla and zilla parishad polls can also be held through the application of state machinery and party organisational strength. When the global trend in the 21st century is smaller government, Sheikh Hasina has gone for an extraordinarily large cabinet. Two full ministers (Major Rafiqul Islam Bir Uttam and now Salah Uddin Yusuf) have no portfolios. Under the Awami League government there is a plethora of OSD bureaucrats. Now there are OSD ministers. The donor countries and agencies - development partners - have long been calling for downsizing the cabinet. Instead it has been oversized. This they are not likely to accept in good grace.
The reshuffle and expansion in the cabinet instead of accommodating various pressure groups have rather brought into the open intra-party contradictions. The high-flying ministers who have been cut to size as well as those who were not given berths have expressed their resentment, albeit in a muffled voice. The enlarged meeting of the Awami League working committee held in presence of the party chief after the re-arrangement of the cabinet, brought to the fore widespread discontent among the rank and file against some ministers and parliament members though not every one was given the opportunity of expressing his or her opinion freely.
But there is no reason for the opposition parties to feel complacent on this count. Assuming office after a long spell of 21 years the Awami League government has done and is currently doing everything it could to muster enough strength to effectively face the opposition in the next general elections. It has now no lack of muscle and money power. Apart from this, it has gained enough control over media, business circle and civil and military bureaucracy through overt and covert means. The Awami League government has shown, time and again, that it can be both brutal and ruthless if the situation so demands (case studies - slum demolition and vandalism in Kader Siddique's convention as well as checkmating the opposition strikes and shutdowns). Hence, it will be rather difficult for the opposition alliance to unseat the government through street agitation as they have so vociferously vowed as well as to effectively counter it in the next general elections. The AL seems to be on full alert keeping in a subtle way the opposition busy in endless street agitation. In this respect the AL's gain is the loss of the opposition especially when viewed against the backdrop of its three-year long fruitless agitation.
The writer, a SAARC Gold Medallist, is a former research scholar of the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, Singapore and the Commonwealth Foundation for Broadcasting Development
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments