Zaman also observed that NGOs should not get involved in politics, as they are not political parties.

2. Prior to finalising the report the local office of the World Bank organised a number of thematic consultation meetings. In October last year I attended one such meeting which was mainly devoted to micro-credit functions of the NGOs and was attended by representatives of all leading NGOs having micro-credit programmes, PKSF, Grameen Bank, Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh (FNB) besides concerned officials of the World Bank. In that meeting while offering my comments on the contents of the draft report, I invited attention of the World Bank officials and others present to some provisions of the draft "Micro-credit (Programme Management) Act, 2005" which the govt. was preparing to enact for regulating the activities of the NGOs concerning micro-credit. I pointed out that the draft law was going to provide for establishment of a Regulatory Authority with enormous powers to regulate micro-credit operations of the NGOs. The proposed Regulatory Authority would have the power to remove the chairman or any member of the governing body including the chief executive of the NGO and also to fine any of them up to five lacs taka for, in the opinion of the Authority, activities harmful to the interest of the members or depositors. I said that such arbitrary powers of the Regulatory Authority would be harmful for the smooth and efficient functioning of the Micro-Credit Organizations and there would be every possibility of misuse of the powers for political considerations. I requested the World Bank to take up the matter with the govt. to persuade them to refrain from including such provisions in the draft law, in consideration of the fact that micro-credit activities of the NGOs had been playing a very important and effective role in empowering the poor, in formation of rural capital and in "taking the vibration of the economy to the doorstep of the rural poor."

3. I have not yet seen the final version of the report, but I am happy to know that the Bank has suggested that the govt. should not have such arbitrary powers. I would suggest that the Bank follow up these points with the Govt. so that such provisions are omitted from the draft law or provisions be made for taking such actions against the Governing body or chief Executive of the NGOs through courts of law.

4. Now, regarding involvement of NGOs in politics; Dr. Zaman has observed that NGOs should not get involved in politics as they are not political parties. I have some comments to make on this observation by Dr. Zaman. First of all I think that it is probably not proper to say that "NGOs" should or should not get involved in politics. Actually it is not the NGOs which take part in politics, rather, it is the NGO activists or the members of primary groups (primary level organisation of the poor formed by NGOs) or the union or thana federations of such primary groups who take part in political activities and I do not see any strong ground for denying this right to them.

5. I have been associated with the NGO sector of this country for a long time and I have seen, and I believe, that there are still NGO activists who are really dedicated and committed, and have been working devotedly to achieve their objective of eradication of poverty through human resource development. These NGOs activists have realised that poverty cannot be eradicated without empowering the poor in all the necessary areas of life and that is the way to convert them into real human resources. Providing the poor with relief and doing only social welfare activities will not do. Empowerment is not charity or favour to the poor; rather it is their justified demand and legitimate right. The poor have to be empowered in all the necessary areas of life so that they can themselves come out of the vicious circle of poverty and improve their standard of living themselves. Political empowerment of the poor is no less important than their empowerment in other areas and it has to be effected simultaneously in all the areas to achieve the right objective in the shortest possible time.

6. The NGO activists also firmly believe that good governance in the country is a pre-requisite for empowering the poor and eradicating poverty. There is no denying the fact that in Bangladesh good governance is totally absent. But good governance cannot be had without establishing true democracy because democracy is the best form of governance in the world. Again true democracy cannot be established without good, patriotic and honest people in the govt. To have true democracy we have to have good people both in the local govt. bodies and in the parliament.

7. NGO activists have seen that true democratic culture is absent in our country and so good governance is not being established. Therefore, democracy is meaningless to the poor who make up 90% of the population and a handful of rich and powerful people are enjoying all the benefits of democracy and so the poor are becoming poorer day by day and the rich are becoming richer. The poor have to be politically empowered so as to be able to succeed in this political struggle. The poor will continue to be deprived of the benefits and advantages of democracy if their representation in the state power cannot be ensured gradually. But the poor are not politically organised and they severely lack in political consciousness and these are the main reasons for their political powerlessness. They are not fully aware of the value of their votes and do not have the capability to cast their votes freely and prudently and thus to elect candidates of their choice, i.e., those who are patriotic, honest and pro-poor. Black money and muscle power control elections in this country and the poor are the helpless victims of these two evils. The free and proper exercise of the right of franchise of the poor is obstructed and influenced by black money of the dishonest candidates, their musclemen and also by intentional, politically motivated and distorted interpretation of the religious doctrines by the fundamentalists. So the poor need to be organised politically and to be made aware of their political rights and responsibilities to create an enabling atmosphere for the free exercise of their right of franchise.

8. The NGO activists have genuine reason to say that for eradicating poverty to improve the standard of living of the poor only the formalities of democracy, i.e., having election after every five years wherein some people will contest and get elected by mean of black money and muscle power, form govt. and then engage themselves in making money, is not enough. There has to be govt. of the people (i.e. the poor who are 90% of the population) which will think for the poor. Those who contest elections and get elected by means of black money and use of terrorism do not actually represent the majority. They purchase nominations of the political parties at unbelievably high price with black money, get elected by giving false hopes and commitments to the people and forget them after being elected. They start making money by resorting to corruption and misuse of power to recover much more than their election investment. The World Bank itself stated that the candidates had spent about twenty thousand crore taka to buy nominations and votes in the last general election. As if govt. is sold in auction to the highest bidders in this country. Such a govt. cannot be sincere to the improvement of the condition of the people or of the country. The present political culture of the country is completely against democracy and good governance. The class character of those elected to the parliament to form govt. is not conducive for eradication of poverty.

9. The aim of politics should be the development of the country and improvement of the standard of life of the people. But in the poor countries like ours the situation is just reverse. Here the good, honest and patriotic people who sincerely want development of the country and welfare of the people are not in politics; politics is done by dishonest, selfish, unpatriotic people who are not sincere in establishing true democracy and good governance in the country. Most of the members of Parliament are traders and owners of black money, maintaining musclemen and patronising terrorists for obvious reasons. The dishonest politicians are not friends of the people who vote for them. They are not close to the people nor do they share the sorrows and happiness of the people.

10. So poverty eradication in this country cannot be expected from the present politicians. They have established kleptocracy and are plundering the resources of the country and making the poor even poorer. The present politicians or their parties are not sincere to establish true democracy and good governance. It is these people who support the opinion that NGO activists should not get involved in politics. I don't understand why the NGO activists who are more close and friendly to the people and care, more than the politicians, for the good and prosperity of the people, whom they work with, should not be allowed to participate in politics when the smugglers, terrorists and owners of black money can do politics. These days some NGO activists have also started saying that the NGOs need not be involved in politics. This, I am of the views that, they have been saying with the clear intention of avoiding the risk of incurring displeasure of the dishonest but enormously powerful politicians and to avoid clash and confrontation with them, because they (the NGO activists) have seen on numerous occasions how much damage and harm these fiends from the hell (the dishonest politicians and their cohorts) can cause to them and their organizations. But I will say that this is nothing but their aversion to fight against the anti-poor forces and in that sense their cowardice retreat from their commitment to eradicate poverty and improve the standard of life of the poor. But these NGO activists have to understand that if they want to work for eradicating poverty, clash with the rich exploiters and their patrons, the dishonest politicians, is inevitable. Because these dishonest and anti-poor elements have come to realise that earlier the poor used to blame god or their fate for their poverty and sufferings but now due to the awareness creation activities of the NGOs they have started pointing fingers to these plundering rich and the dishonest politicians. Due to the activities of the NGOs the dishonest and self-seeking politicians are facing more and more difficulties in exploiting the poor.

11. Moreover political empowerment of the poor entails, inter-alia, the creation of political awareness in them so that they realise the necessity of exercising the right of franchise with utmost prudence and more importantly the dire necessity of electing honest, patriotic and pro-poor people to the parliament and to the local govt. bodies; they have to be organised in such a way that they become able to exercise their right of franchise freely and elect people of their choice by checking temporary temptation of black money, by not being misled by the misleading propaganda of the politically motivated fundamentalists and by boldly facing and encountering the evils of muscle power by their own organisational strength. The poor have to be empowered gradually to set candidates and contest for seats in the local govt. bodies and then contest the national elections and send representatives to the National Assembly.

12. If the above mentioned activities, which are essential for empowering the poor for eradicating poverty, are to be termed as political activities, then the NGO activists, and their poor group or Federation members have to participate in politics. It is essential for achieving their objective namely eradication of poverty.

13. So to eradicate poverty we have to send good, honest, patriotic and pro-poor people to form government I think the NGOs can play a very good and effective role in this regard. The NGO activists are closer to people and more friendly and caring to the poor than the present day politicians. I am inclined to support the involvement of NGO activists and the primary group or Federation Members of the NGOs, who are representatives of the poor, in politics. I don't think that involvement of some NGO activists in politics will cause any deterioration of the quality of service of the NGOs to the poor; because the NGO activists have acquired the ability to serve the poor as a class and irrespective of their religious or political affiliation or liking. So let us allow the NGO activists to participate in politics, contest for getting into the govt. by participating in general elections, though it would be pretty difficult for them or for any good and honest man to get elected by contesting the holders of black money and leaders of terrorist political workers. Still let there be an effort towards a good start. The seriously ailing politics of Bangladesh needs fresh blood infusion.

Md. Giash Uddin Pathan is former Director General, NGO Affairs Bureau.