There is no denying the fact that the government did not prepare the PRSP on its own accord for fulfilling any of its political commitments or out of humanitarian concern. It had to do it as the donor agencies made this a condition (as in many other countries) for disbursement of aid. Another condition for disbursement was that the PRSP be "home grown." This means that the paper had to be prepared by the receiving country with its own expertise as per the needs of the country as decided after consultation with the stake holders. The government claims that the PRSP has been drafted after fulfilling all the said conditions. The government is also very confident that the PRSP is not only prepared locally, but also would be quite effective in reduction of poverty in Bangladesh.

But the idea that a poverty reduction strategy paper or PRSP is to be prepared is a prescription of the donors. The government of Bangladesh had to prepare the paper accordingly. Naturally, the question arises whether the priority was to satisfy the donor agencies and prepare the paper looking at their attitude and wishes, or to evaluate the situation neutrally from the ground level and make provision for the actual needs of the poor people. If the priority was to ensure continuing funds from the donors, the paper would unsurprisingly be made in a way that would make the donors happy, and consideration to actual poverty reduction issues of the country might not be so central.

Bangladesh is a country where the problem is not lack of strategy papers and action programs. The real problem is the implementation of these programs. The first impediment is the lack of political will of the government. The reason behind this is that the ruling class and the policy makers are beyond any effective accountability to the people. Parliament, which has been given the role of making government accountable to the people as per our constitution, is dysfunctional for various reasons. Elections, which are to ensure final accountability of the government by allowing the people to express their final say on the evaluation of political government, have become vulnerable to undue influence and manipulation.

Some of us may not agree, but very few would disagree that the ruling class and the policy makers of Bangladesh are not representing the poorer section of the people, and most of them are not pro-people. It is quite possible that the PRSP programs would be implemented in a way to benefit the ruling class and the policy makers, in most cases contrary to the stipulated goal of gradual poverty reduction.

Other stumbling blocks are corruption and mismanagement, which are continuously on the rise and have engulfed almost every sphere of our society. As such, it is a necessity for the strategy paper to look at the very beginning to the prominent issues of lack of accountability and overall lack of good governance (in connection with implementation works) now prevailing in Bangladesh, and chalk out strategy taking a pragmatic view of the overall working environment .

The draft publication "Unlocking the Potential, National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction" (published by General Economics Division, Planning Commission, Government of People's Republic of Bangladesh, December, 2004), in Chapter V, Roadmap for Accelerated Poverty Reduction, outlines the Poverty Reduction Strategy. It consists of Strategic Blocks and Supporting Strategies.

Strategic Blocks are divided into four:

Strategic Block I: Macroeconomic Environment for Pro-Poor Economic Growth,

Strategy Block II: Critical Sectors for Pro-Poor Economic Growth,

Strategy Block III: Effective Safety Nets and Targeted Programmes,

Strategy Block IV. Human Development.

Supporting Strategies also has four components:

Supporting Strategy I: Ensuring Participation, Social Inclusion and Empowerment,

Supporting Strategy II: Promoting Good Governance,

Supporting Strategy III: Service Delivery,

Supporting Strategy IV: Caring for the Environment and Sustainable Development.

It may be seen from the above that the issue of good governance is seen as a supporting strategy in the draft PRSP.

The first sentence written in the concerned chapter of the draft paper (page 141) is: "There is little disputing that the governance issue is critical to a more effective growth and poverty reduction strategy."

But, the last sentence of the said section very cleverly contradicts this fine statement by raising a question of doubt: "It is relevant to note here that cross-country findings have begun to question to what extent the maximal agenda on good governance was a precondition or a consequence of development."

This concluding remark in the draft might be aimed towards the development partners. The intention could have been to suggest that the receiving country, being still not developed, should be absolved of any mismanagement, misuse and corruption due to lack of good governance which was considered inevitable.

The next paragraph deals with what people should avoid while making any effective strategy for good governance. These are:

"(i) a tendency towards an encyclopedic wish list in agenda formulation, (ii) an insufficient appreciation of the institutional and political realities through which reform initiatives have to be carried forward, (iii) over-focusing on what does not work while ignoring what does work, and, (iv) lack of clarity as to where the governance agenda best interfaces with poverty reduction goals."

This statement might be considered to be a brake of caution applied to any expectation of effective good governance here in Bangladesh. One may have to be satisfied with good governance as per the Bangladesh standard taking due consideration of the existing situation and environment. The above suggests that this strategy paper is not focused on the establishment of good governance but intends to redefine good governance in such a way as to find acceptable the existing evils that now prevail.

In the same page (page 141) of the draft PRSP, the broad action agenda on good governance has been described as "generally cover[ing] six areas:

*The reform of judicial systems,

*Public administration reforms,

*Anti-corruption,

*Decentralization,

*Strengthening accountability and participation, and

*Public expenditure management."

To address any or all of the above agenda, not only requires a political decision from the highest level of the government in power, but also requires the utmost attention and sincere cooperation from this quarter. It is a well known fact in Bangladesh that there exists lack of political will for implementing any of the above.

Though certain measures have been initiated as per order from the high court or due to the pressure created by our development partners (for example, separation of judiciary from the executive, the formation of an independent anti-corruption commission, etc.), the progress in these issues may be considered insignificant, if not zero.

About decentralization, the court order has not been carried out and the government has been seeking more and more time for the last about twelve years. Regarding public expenditure management, the recommendations put forward by the public expenditure review commission are being ignored continuously. Appointment, posting, and promotion of public servants are being carried out purely on partisan interest on the basis of loyalty towards the party in power, and qualification, seniority, efficiency, and honesty are ignored. Corruption and other illegal activities, especially when it serves the partisan interest of the ruling party, are patronized by the government. All business and tenders are manipulated by the ruling party people. They apply violence or the threat of it to force any non-compliant businessman or contractor out, and allow only their own people to get hold of the business to make an inflated profit at the cost of public money.

Accepting all the above as the reality of the local condition, can good governance really be established? Without addressing the above issues as impediments to good governance, could it be possible to implement any strategy for accelerated poverty reduction? Does there exist anywhere in the PRSP any mention as to how the above situation could be dealt with? The answer to all of these questions is, unfortunately, in the negative.

G M Quader is a member of parliament.