Problems of good governance

By M A H Nazim Dept. of Political Science University of Dhaka
14 January 2006, 18:00 PM
Nearly seven or eight years ago Bangladesh was focused in the international media and arena as a country of disaster and poverty as well as a cyclone prone zone etc. But this country has a role to play in the international arena. We recently discovered a huge quantity of natural resources. Now we are facing problems of human rights, good governance, transparency, lack of rule of law and order etc.

After liberation from the colonial rule Pakistan, most of the time this country had military rule which ignored human rights. From that period we witnessed indiscriminate violation of the constitutional rule. The "Yes-No" vote culture was initiated at the very beginning of our statehood , which ruined the entire electoral process.

On the other hand, violation of law and parliamentary procedures were practised massively. This ill culture still prevails in our society. For example, we can see the opposition always opposing the Section 54; but strangely we notice that when an opposition party comes to power they forget about the whole thing.

The executive branch is one of the important organs of the state that is made for the welfare of the public. What is the real position of this branch now? The bureaucrats consider themselves superior to common people. Noted politician and writer of the book "Ozaratir dui Bachar" Ataur Rahman Khan narrated the interrelation between the politicians, general mass and the bureaucrats elaborately. The situation has not changed much, though Bangladesh is now an independent country.

As a welfare nation we should eliminate these problems as soon as possible.