January 2, 2024
DHAKA – Rehman Sobhan, one of Bangladesh's most respected public intellectuals and ever an optimist, seemed ambivalent about predicting our future when he spoke on the topic 'The Ongoing Liberation War' at the Bangla Academy on December 23. Prof Sobhan said the political consensus dissolved soon after liberation and for the second time when democracy should have been “restored” after the public uproar in 1990, when common understanding among politicians fell apart. The economy performed better than predicted, refuting the nickname “the basket case,” he said. But inequality has increased, so that 10 percent of the population has 40 percent of the national income. Social injustice increased as institutions were undermined. “We won independence, but not freedom,” said Prof Sobhan.
Nepotism (or nepotism) is a situation in which corporations benefit from a close relationship with state power through an anti-competitive regulatory environment, direct government largesse, and outright corruption. Businesses thrive not through free enterprise, but through collusion between the business class and the political class. Money is made not only by making profits in the market, but by seeking profit through rent-seeking using one's own monopoly or oligopoly power. Crony capitalism spreads to the government, politics and the media. This context then distorts the economy and influences society to the extent that it corrupts economic, political and social ideals and practices.
Bangladesh has become a model of crony capitalism. Two-thirds of the members of the outgoing parliament are businessmen who buy nominations and vote in elections as a business investment. The concept of a conflict of interest for MPs and government ministers does not exist. This is evident from the astronomical growth in wealth and income of MPs and ministers, as stated in their nomination papers. Loan defaults have increased exponentially during the reign of the current regime. Just a week ago, the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) reported that Tk 92,000 crore was looted through bank fraud in the last 15 years. The law called the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) Act, 2010 is even better known as the Compensation Act as the law itself states that it cannot be challenged in court. Under this law, Tk 1.05 trillion has been paid to 73 independent power plants in the last 14 years only as capacity charges, and not even for the power plants that produce or supply electricity.
Five decades after liberation, there is no credible electoral process that allows citizens to decide for themselves who represents them in the legislature. Politics is caught up in the nexus of an oligopoly of business interests and the willingly cooperating political class. The hijacking of the political process at the local, municipal and national levels was carried out smoothly by politicians of all stripes represented by the major parties Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jatiya Party and a diverse collection of leftist and religious parties. The main opposition to the regime, led by the BNP, complicit in the oligopolistic capture of the political process, has been unable to mobilize strong public support to challenge the Awami League in the last three election cycles. The BNP's demand for the regime's resignation as a condition for participation in elections does not offer an authentic vision of change from the prevailing politics in the country. Nor did it provide an alternative to the degradation and politicization of key state institutions such as the public administration, law enforcement and legal system, as well as statutory institutions such as the National Human Rights Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Election Commission.
Despite the criticism, general perceptions about how Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is handling the economy's growth performance, launching and completing major infrastructure projects and how she is balancing geopolitically in the region against the positions of world powers have helped garner public support for her . The opinion of many still seems to be: “If not Sheikh Hasina, then who?”
No change of government is expected in the 12th parliamentary elections scheduled for January 7th. The character of the candidates of the ruling party, the so-called royal parties, the various independents, the election programs announced and the nature of the election campaign do not indicate that the contours of the prevailing prisoner politics and the election campaign will change after the election nepotism.
The future scenario for the country and the long-suffering people can only change if Sheikh Hasina admits the unsustainability of the current political and economic course. And if it sees the need for real change, it would return us to the vision that inspired the Declaration of Independence and the principles of the Constitution – building a society and a nation guided by democracy, socialism, nationalism and secularism.
These general principles need to be interpreted in a contemporary way and transformed from pure rhetoric into practical action. An important step in this direction after the election would be for the Prime Minister of the new government to announce a Constitutional Commission that will make changes to the Constitution, which has been opportunistically mutilated on several occasions. A referendum could be held on changes to proportional representation, administrative decentralization (including the creation of provinces with their own legislatures), a stronger balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, and protecting the independence of the judiciary and statutory bodies.
Other measures the Prime Minister could commit to would be to introduce democracy into his party to enable leadership to emerge from the grassroots (through democratic decisions) and to free the economy from the clutches of oligopoly by Regulatory and financial institutions function independently (without political interference), allow the education system and institutions to be led by educators (free from political influence), promote genuine tolerance of freedom of expression, and do not use law enforcement for political control.
One might ask: Why did Sheikh Hasina have such a radical change of heart? She would do it when she thought about the legacy she wanted to leave behind. Should it be a legacy of kleptocracy and oligopolistic control of the economy that allows a small group to hold the nation's future hostage? Or a legacy that will put the true vision of the liberation struggle back on track perhaps in 2024?
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