A hard road ahead

Photo: AFP

Into its twelfth month, roughly half-way through their self-declared time frame, it is probably the right time for the caretaker government of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, that took oath of office on January 12 amid grave political turmoil centering national election, to take a close look at the progress they have made in reaching their ultimate goal -- a free, fair, and credible election and handover of power to a truly representative elected government.
The first and foremost priority of the caretaker government of Dr. Ahmed was to reconstitute the Election Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, and Public Service Commission. They did these jobs in no time. What the politicians could not do by wielding logi, baitha, kaste or kirich, they were able to do that simply with a cup of tea.
They have done another excellent job -- separation of judiciary from the executive. This was not truly their responsibility. They did it on their own and thus fulfilled a long time demand of general public for which they can certainly claim credit.
However, whether these institutions have really become independent is still not very clear. The Election Commission is for sure one which cannot be considered fully independent. It has to still depend on the executive authority for its finance and its secretariat is still a part of the prime minister's (now chief adviser's) office.
As regards judiciary, people have reasons to think (rightly or wrongly) that it has not yet started functioning as a truly independent body, especially after having seen some of the recent judgments given by the courts in cases filed by the government. It may, however, be too early to comment on this issue. The judiciary certainly needs time to come out of the age-old legacy.
The other priorities of this government were to: (a) prepare a correct voter list, (b) free the electoral process from the clutches of black money and muscle, and (c) carry out necessary electoral reform so that the next election can be held in a free and fair manner.
The voter list that the EC inherited from its predecessor was highly flawed. It had as many as 13 million out of 90 million voters either fake or duplicate and another 5 million genuine voters missing. The list needed to be scrapped and prepared afresh.
One gets the impression that the EC has been rather slow in preparing the voter list. It took them nearly six months to decide the modus operandi of the operation only. Similarly, reform of electoral laws progressed at a snail's space. Nobody knows how long will the EC will take in completing this job.
It is, however, heartening to hear that the preparation of a voter list and that also with photo and ID is now underway in full swing and is expected to be completed by June 2008. We hope that the electoral reform will also be completed by that time.
It is pity that the EC was sitting on the issue of transparent ballot box for such a long time. Better late than never, now that they are thinking of introducing transparent ballot box in the next general election, we will urge them go for it without further delay and hesitation.
The massive anti-corruption drive of the caretaker government with the help of joint forces that saw a large number of political bigwigs and business magnets behind bars on charges of corruption and abuse of power, though welcomed by people at large, has seemingly faltered or lost direction at times, even proved counter-productive in some cases, because of either lack of coordination and planning or because of apparent over-enthusiasm.
It is all but natural for the general public to become anxious when they see some being booked for lesser crimes while others with much bigger crimes are being let off. They get confused when they see some of the big names charged for keeping a few bottles of alcohol or a gun without license in their house or at best for extortion of one or two crore taka whereas many of them are alleged to have plundered or siphoned off millions of dollars, abusing state power.
More importantly, people expected that the anti-corruption drive would bring down the cost of living. They would be able to buy essential goods and services at a reasonable price. They would be able to avail the state sponsored services at field level without any harassment, without bribe to put it bluntly. That has not happened.
Prices have, instead of coming down, gone up. Bribery did not take its seat . Nobody believed or expected that the bribery culture, as old as 2,500 years, would vanish or take a seat in the museum, but one would have thought that in the wake of such a massive shock therapy it would at least take a back seat. We are not sure that has happened.
The price hike of essential commodities, especially food items, has continued unabated. The mad horse of price hike that was let loose by the past government of BNP-Jamaat could not be held back in spite of best of efforts on the part of the caretaker government. A kilo of rice that cost Tk 28-30 when they took over now sells at Tk 38-40. Nobody knows where it will end.
Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed has a hard road ahead. Two successive floods followed by a devastating cyclone have literarily broken the backbone of an already fragile economy. He is now required to simultaneously deal with the challenges of: (a) rehabilitation of nearly 6 million people of the coastal belt who have lost everything in the cyclone, (b) ensuring overall food security of the country in the backdrop of a food deficit of at least 3 million tons, (c) containing creeping inflation and price hike, (d) disposing of cases filed against dozens of top ranking political leaders including two former prime ministers, and (e) creating a congenial atmosphere for holding a free, fair, and credible election by December 2008.
The challenges are not easy. Dr. Ahmed needs real friends at home and abroad to cope with the situation. He needs cooperation from all quarters. More than anything else, he needs cooperation of the political parties. If this is not the time for him and his colleagues to sit down with a big heart and an open mind with the politicians of the country to discuss serious business, then when is? And by the same token, the politicians must also understand that, in the interest of the country, they also need to cooperate fully with the caretaker government.
Captain Husain Imam is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.