Dr. Abul Hussam, a chemistry professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, won the 2007 "Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability" for developing an inexpensive, easy-to-make system for filtering arsenic from well water. Of Bangladeshi origin, the concerned chemist plans to donate the $1 million prize money for distributing these filters to needy communities around the world.

Dr. Hussam was moved by the plight of millions of Bangladeshis poisoned by tube-well water laced with arsenic -- leading to serious skin conditions, tumours, breathing difficulties, cancer, and ultimately to agonizing death -- and made it his quest to find a solution.

After experimenting with hundreds of prototypes, he finally found the right combination of sand, charcoal, brick, and cast-iron to filter out almost any trace of arsenic from well water. In Kushtia these systems are now being produced at the rate of about 200 per week, at a cost of about $40 each. Over 30,000 filtration systems have already been distributed throughout the country.

Coming so soon after Dr. Yunus's Nobel Peace Prize last year, Dr. Abul Hussam's achievement ought to lift the heart of even the most die-hard pessimist.

In light of Bangladesh's current attempt to make corrupt kingpins accountable for their past misdeeds, the success of Dr. Hussam's discovery suggests a compelling question: Will Bangladesh finally be able to filter out the arsenic of corruption, greed, nepotism and misrule, once and for all, from its government, no matter who may be in power?

Conscientious Bangladeshis hung their heads in shame when the Berlin-based Transparency International ranked the country as the most corrupt in the world five years in a row, beginning with 2000. They witnessed with horror the powerful and the unscrupulous looting the country's treasury, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and the encroachment of religious dogma in public discourse and government policies.

Both the Awami League and the BNP indulged in thievery and corruption with impunity, and functionaries of both parties -- mercenaries, really -- created a twilight zone in which their words became the law. In this zone, only the "fittest" thrived, the fittest being those in or close to power, and their henchmen down the food chain.

Now there is hope that the darkness may be lifting, that those who abused power and amassed fortunes at the expense of the nation and its citizens will be brought to justice.

Because it is the army, backed by the interim government, that is spearheading the crackdown and the cleansing mission, some Bangladeshis are already protesting that democracy is in danger.

What planet are they on? Democracy cannot flourish in a vacuum. It can thrive only in the fertile soil of accountability, responsibility, and good governance. When the soil is saturated with the arsenic of greed, nepotism, and solipsism, what thrives is "thugocracy," not democracy. This has been the sad lot of Bangladeshis since 1991, following the overthrow of the military dictatorship of General Ershad.

The country has been kept afloat not by any government in power, but by the innate genius of Bangladeshis -- the human capital -- and their entrepreneurship and creativity against all odds.

What is critical is for the interim government to proceed with prudence, and not try to bite off more than it can chew. One measure of this prudence can be seen in the systematic way in which the army is being used to snag progressively "bigger fish" with every passing day. Ultimately the biggest fish -- a select group distinguished by unimaginable fraud and corruption across party lines -- will have to be hauled in for justice to prevail.

When I visited Bangladesh last November, friends and relatives told me repeatedly that if only the government got off the backs of the people, and those in power (including the opposition) could be held accountable for their actions, the country could achieve wonders. While neighbouring India was earning millions of dollars in foreign exchange through call centers and innovative software and hardware, Bangladesh was moving backward through debilitating hartals and plundering of the nation's assets by the privileged.

Will decades of the national nightmare be soon over, and will a new and responsible government usher in an era of enlightened democracy, of accountability, of law and order, of economic and educational opportunity for all? Let's hope that the groundwork is now being laid for such an outcome, so that future generations can look to this interim government as one that, after fits and starts, found its calling and made good on its promise.

Hasan Zillur Rahim is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.