The on again, off again mayor

This is the third time that the mayor of Gazipur, MA Mannan, has been suspended since he was duly elected as mayor of that City Corporation on July 6, 2013. The order, however, has been stayed by the High Court. It has been more than four years that he was elected mayor, and regrettably, of these four years he has been suspended thrice, and spent 22 months in jail and only 18 months in office. So far 30 cases have been filed against him. And thus far every time he was sacked, he was reinstated by the Supreme Court, as were the three others.   

Needless to say Mannan belongs to the BNP, as do four others who were elected as mayors in July of 2013, three of whom have met the same fate as Mannan's. They were also similarly suspended no sooner had they assumed their responsibilities.

Unfortunately, this blatant and repeated disregard for elected representatives of the people demonstrates the shameless abuse of the law by the administration. The repeated arrests only show its mala fide intention, and that it is pathologically loath to allow the opposition representatives to carry out their statutory functions as the elected representative of the people.  

The fate of the four BNP mayors puts to lie the much vaunted claim of the ruling party that democracy has flourished in the country during its tenure. It has anything but. Democracy does not mean having an election and a parliament only. The local government bodies, a pillar of democracy, have suffered because of the attitude of the administration towards the elected councillors, chairmen and vice-chairmen belonging to the opposition camp. And it is the people of these areas, unfortunately, who have suffered most. These municipalities and city corporations have been given the short shrift by the current regime which does little to enhance the democratic credentials of the ruling party.