Transparency International

By Shahabuddin Mahtab, Gulshan, Dhaka
7 November 2003, 18:00 PM
Lord Acton said, "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." Bangladesh is at the bottom of many things: test cricket, the World Development Report (146th), poverty list, sanitation list etc. But lo and behold we have topped the list in being the most corrupt nation in the world. Some 'mad' fellow said, that we are 22nd in the Swiss Bank list.

One of the sixty ministers of the government said, it is all bun-kum. These people collected their information from the newspapers. With due respect to the authorities, T.I. does not have about a million workers that you do. If the T.I. (Bangladesh Chapter) had as many as one thousand workers only, the corruption list would at least weigh a metric ton.

Now. Mr. Frederic Temple, Dr. David Carter, Ms. Nishimazu, Prof. Khan Sorwar Morshed are very polite people and they are also very diplomatic. They all put the hardest facts in a very mild way. But the truth prevails. Sweden Aslam, Kala Jahangir, the "great men from Feni and Khulna skid ghat can kill any number of people they want. But even they cannot kill truth. Dr. Josef Goebbles failed, Sad-al-Sahaf failed.

Let us introspect, let us think, and at least let us be true to ourselves, if not to our wives (because they are the last to know). In a state of nature, the first duty of the government is to protect the life of the people. And if a government fails to do so, they should at least choose compulsory retirement.