No pledge for making wealth reports public

Having failed to fulfil its 2008 election pledge to publish the wealth statements of  powerful people every year, the ruling Awami League has dropped the matter altogether and made no such promise in its manifesto for the 10th parliamentary polls.
Instead, the party has pledged initiatives for ensuring accountability of people from all sections for their income and wealth.
In its manifesto for the 9th parliamentary polls, the party had vowed that the powerful people would have to submit wealth statements annually and the wealth statement and source of income of the prime minister, cabinet members, parliamentarians and their family members would be made public every year, a promise that the party has failed to keep.

AL president Sheikh Hasina, also the prime minister, unveiled the party's manifesto titled "Bangladesh moving forward" for the January 5 polls at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday.
She announced that the party would enact laws to ensure accountability of the MPs for their actions in and outside parliament.
When asked, AL presidium member Nooh-ul-Alam Lenin, who was involved in drafting the manifesto, told The Daily Star that bringing transparency in the income and wealth of all was a key focus of the manifesto.
Though most of the opposition parties including the BNP have boycotted the elections, the Awami League said, forging a national consensus to keep the democratic process uninterrupted and making the 10th parliament effective were their priorities.
Besides these, the party set seven more priorities: ensuring peace and stability in the country by eliminating militancy, terrorism and communalism; completing the trials of war criminals and executing the verdicts; strengthening the National Human Rights Commission and appointing an ombudsman; strengthening the Election Commission; making the local government system more effective through decentralization of power; taking tough actions against black money, extortion, tender manipulation and bribery and making the ACC stronger; and freeing the law enforcement agencies from political influences.

Sheikh Hasina unveiling AL's election manifesto at the BICC yesterday. Photo: BSS

The party also vowed to try those who were involved in killing, arson attacks and disrupting peace in the country to foil the war crimes trial.

The ruling party made the promise to ensure equal treatment of the people irrespective of their faith, culture, gender and social status. It, however, said the party would not enact any law conflicting with the Quran and Sunnah.
The manifesto, dedicated to the young generation who would exercise their voting right for the first time in the upcoming elections, included vows to ensure employment and healthcare for all, to rid the capital city of traffic congestion and the educational institutions of dirty politics and session jams, and to give more attention to science and technology, health, women empowerment, gender equality and welfare of children, juveniles and youths.
The party, if voted to power, also promised to fully implement the CHT Peace Accord.
The party, in its 2008 manifesto, had set the year 2021 as the deadline to realise their visions. This time, the party said, it would announce a new plan, Vision-2041, if it formed the government again.
"Our primary target is to implement Vision-2021 and the long term plan is to elevate Bangladesh to the level of the developed countries by 2050," Sheikh Hasina said while announcing the manifesto.
With a view to making Bangladesh a real middle-income country by 2021, the party pledged to increase the per capita income to $1,500 from existing $1,044, the growth rate to 10 percent from the existing 6.2 percent and to reduce poverty rate to 13 percent from the existing 26 percent in the next seven years.
The AL manifesto also included the promise to take the electricity generation capacity to 24,000 MW from the existing 10,000 MW and ensure electricity connection to every household in the country.
Another bridge over the Padma river in addition to the ongoing one, a second Jamuna bridge, a modern international airport, the proposed deep seaport in Sonadia, a circular rail route around Dhaka city and the Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway were also promised in the manifesto.
In her concluding speech, the AL chief thanked the people for their overwhelming support to her government over the past five years and sought vote for 'boat' symbol in the upcoming polls.
Senior party leaders, members of civil society, freedom fighters, representatives of professional bodies, business leaders and a few diplomats were present on the occasion.
The ruling party announced its manifesto only a week before the January 5 national elections to be held in 146 constituencies out of 300 as 154 candidates are set to be elected uncontested.