Corruption in Bangladesh

By Maksood Mohiuddin MBA, University of Georgia GA, USA
27 October 2005, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh has ranked first for the fifth consecutive time in the global corruption rankings published by the Berlin based Transparency International. Even though I have serious doubt about the merit of this kind of rankings, there might be some substance in this ranking to indicate the widespread prevalence of corruption in Bangladesh. It's a known fact among citizens of Bangladesh that most of the government agencies in the country are corrupt and the Transparency International report strengthens that conviction.

Recently, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has denied giving the Bangladesh government extension of time for the separation of the judiciary from the executive branch. This process was started in 1999 on Supreme Court directive and successive governments have failed to accomplish the task even in six years.

I am not a political scientist but in my analysis, there's a direct correlation between the prevalence of widespread corruption in Bangladesh and not having the judiciary separated from executive branch. The reason is obvious - most of the government agencies are corrupt but these agencies are protected by the fact that the judiciary currently is not separate from the executive branch. To be able to achieve a functioning democracy in Bangladesh I think it's necessary for the government now to act to separate the judiciary from the executive branch. Separation of the judiciary from the executive branch will help to establish transparency in governance and establish accountability for the government agencies. It's disheartening to see that a democratically elected government delays a proceeding as important as this.