Editorial
The governance issue
Accountability in high places must be ensured
The decision by the council of advisers to do away with the import of duty free vehicles for lawmakers raises anew the matter of corruption in high places. In the past sixteen years, members of Parliament have often abused privileges they have been entitled to. A very significant number of parliamentarians have imported duty free vehicles and then sold them off at hefty profit to others. Such behaviour has naturally shocked all conscientious citizens. The scruples that we thus expected from our elected representatives have been conspicuous by their absence. Our sentiments take a little more battering when we are informed that telephone bills amounting to huge sums of money have remained uncleared by our now former MPs, in spite of the fact that they received special telephone allowance.In light of such realities, the question of how to ensure accountability in high places acquires renewed significance. Government is by definition a matter of ensuring the greatest good for the greatest number of people. But the record of the last decade and a half, and even more, shows clearly how elected government has worked at cross purposes with the aspirations of those whose welfare ought to have been its fundamental aim. The spoils system which developed (and this is now being made clear in the crudest manner possible through a recovery of relief materials from the homes of putatively public figures) has eaten away at the vitals of almost every institution of the state. Parliament, especially in its final stages, was reduced to an institution unconcerned with issues of public welfare. The various standing committees of the Jatiyo Sangsad met either fitfully or not at all, which again was a drain on the public exchequer in terms of the resources wasted. When, therefore, Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam speaks of a need to free the government machinery from corruption, we comprehend fully the exigencies of the situation. The circumstances demand that a full, relentless programme of reforms be undertaken and taken to a meaningful conclusion. All the political, administrative and other institutions undermined or destroyed in the past must be thoroughly recast through institutional reforms. Political reforms must also be brought into the workings of the political parties if democracy is to become a truly sustainable exercise. Overall, government must go back to doing its fundamental duty, which is to ensure the material and intellectual well-being of the nation. It must ensure a foolproof system of checks and balances that will make it impossible for individuals, groups and parties to subvert popular aspirations.
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