Independent bodies must

The government, to ensure its accountability, must promote autonomous bodies like Anti-Corruption Commission and National Human Rights Commission, said Dr Gowher Rizvi, adviser to the prime minister, yesterday.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the concluding session of a two-day international conference on “Social Accountability in Practice: Lessons, Challenges and Way Forward” organised by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) at Brac Centre Inn in the capital.
On the other hand, non-government organisations and international aid agencies should also ensure accountability of their own programmes, as they advocate for accountability of government agencies' service delivery, he said.
The World Bank, for example, as an advocate for social accountability in the public sector should also reflect on its own accountability, Rizvi said.
Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, executive chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre, said social accountability was essentially an agenda to advance democracy and democratic rule and it is a part of the whole development discourse and not only for any specific service system.
Social accountability is clearly empowering the citizens seeking to hold those government bodies, which are entrusted to spend their resources, accountable, said Johannes Zutt, country director of the World Bank.
Empowering poor and marginalised groups still remain a challenge for Bangladesh, said Priya Powell, counsellor at AusAID Bangladesh.