Another take on RMG sector unrest and tragedy

Photo: Habibul Haque/ Drik News

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist or an alarmist, I would like to offer my own take on the spate of recent trials by fire being undergone by the country's RMG industry, the most tragic being the more than one hundred lives perishing at Tazreen Fashions.
Significantly, there were similar incidents, if not with the same number of fatalities, immediately preceding and following the Tazreen disaster. You could call it a manifestation of Murphy's Law, and it could well be that, or, it could be that in conjunction with poor safety standards and/or a planned attempt by vested quarters to at least severely damage a sector that earns the highest foreign exchange annually for the country through export.
Together with remittances sent by Bangladeshi workers employed in foreign countries, the RMG sector contributes significantly to Bangladesh's economy in general, and foreign exchange earnings in particular.
Given that Bangladesh has been relying inordinately for a number of years on one particular sector for the bulk of its export earnings (a tenuous situation in itself), one does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand the disastrous impact it would have on Bangladesh's economy if it was damaged in any significant way.
The question, then, is: Can legitimately be asked if there is an ongoing concerted effort by unknown quarters to do just that? The crucial point to be taken into consideration here is just who benefits from Bangladesh's predicament, and how? Not to say, 'why?'
Conspiracy theorists would have a field day in offering conjectures towards unravelling any sinister plot, that is, if there is such a plan in the first place. If there is, that would really be alarming for the country in more ways than one. Furthermore, if, indeed, there is one, then there could be any number of players, both internal and external, with complex agenda matrices, and that could easily prove to be nightmarish to unravel. The one certainty in all these scenarios is that the conspiracy angle cannot be totally ruled out. It might not be the eventual explanation, but it is at least well within the realm of possibility. We will return to it shortly.
Of course, the stark reality is that safety failures were instrumental in the Tazreen tragedy. Equally true, there are a number of garment factories where the safety standards are unsatisfactory to say the least, with the attendant risk of them being potential death traps. For these hazardous places, the international buyers' (of RMG products) recommendations for fire safety following the Tazreen tragedy require implementation: upgrading the BGMEA fire-safety cell; training the owners; revising the building code; reviewing the fire license; listening to the workers; conducting fire drills; and regularly assessing power supply.
Some of these suggestions are elementary, others more compelling, and, surely, other measures, some specific to the requirements of individual installations, need to be taken. Of much concern, representing a fundamental failure is the revelation that BGMEA has conducted fire safety training in just 1,087 out of more than 5,000 of its member factories since the formation of its fire-safety cell in 1997. That translates to just around 20% of the factories over a period of 15 years! Another no-brainer in terms of putative disastrous consequences.
A major unwanted offshoot from the disasters occurring in the factories where accidents and tragedies are waiting to happen is that the entire RMG industry becomes open to charges from various quarters as being mindless, careless entity out for the sole purpose of making huge profits with little regard for the welfare of the workers. The entire industry cannot be brought under the sweeping rubric of "dissatisfactory" for the culpability of some of its constituent organisations. Especially among a highly emotionally-driven people like the Bangladeshis, such broad generalisation can have adverse repercussions for the industry as a whole. And, it appears, that there may be elements waiting for the right opportunity to exploit that emotional vulnerability. Or, as some suggest, actually create the moment and opportunity.
And, of course, there is the dysfunctional political culture of the country to facilitate any ill-motivated conspirator's intentions. Or, conspicuous or not, political elements might themselves indulge in such damaging activities to score political points over their rivals. Or, thought to be so indulging. Or, accused of doing so.
Almost inevitably, given the sorry state of the country's political culture, the government has accused the opposition of having orchestrated the Tazreen tragedy with the aim of discomfiting it. Now hark back, if you so please, to some six years back. Then the government in power (now in the opposition) made the very same accusation against the opposition (now the government) when a spate of fires in a number of garment factories brought about death, injury, and destruction. The comical accusations and counter-accusations could be true, in which case they would not be funny, or they could just be political gamesmanship, but they are a clear illustration of the funky political culture that the country finds itself in. However, note the span of time when the rash of RMG destruction took place during the tenure of the two governments.
In both instances, the time period was approximately the last year of the incumbent government's tenure in office. Now, it could be that the political opposition could be, or have been, indulging in the destructive activities in order to show the incumbent government as being incompetent in the eyes of the voters as national election time looms, or loomed. Or, as not a few observers/conspiracy theorists suggest, other forces, made up of a permutation of internal and external players, are, or have been, taking advantage of the abysmal political culture, carrying out their design, all the while confident that the political parties will blame each other for scoring political points, and that the people will accuse the politicians of doing just that. Just what the conspirators' objectives are could be an exercise in educated guesswork, or who they are could be a matter of shrewd or wild conjecture.
The point is that if the political parties are intentionally indulging in political gamesmanship, while knowing full well that some other forces are behind the attacks on the RMG sector, then it behooves whoever holds the reins of government to nip such conspiracies in the bud and expose the conspirators. For that to happen, however, the politicians will have to drastically improve on the state of terrible political culture obtaining in the country. It is highly unlikely that any insidious conspiracy aimed at destroying vital sectors of the country's economy will succeed in the face of a healthy democratic political culture. What does it take for one to understand that the nation's welfare towers way above and beyond petty political ambitions and infantile political gamesmanship?

The writer is Head, Media and Communication department, Independent University, Bangladesh.