Bangladesh News

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said the strong feudal mentality of policymakers of the country’s political parties would make the task of bringing democracy in party management difficult.

“Political parties have changed their constitutions and we have read in newspapers that the Awami League and the BNP chiefs’ powers have not been reduced much. If that is the case, I would say democracy in the parties has not come to the extent it should have,” Prof Muzaffer said in an interview with The Daily Star.

“Since the feudal mentality in our politics is very strong, I do not think the political culture can easily be changed,” he said.

The government has succeeded 90 percent in its move to hold parliamentary elections and 50 percent in fighting corruption but all of the citizens’ demands for reforms have not been fulfilled, said the former Dhaka University professor.

On the Election Commission’s (EC) attempt to bring changes to political culture, he said the EC has tried its best by setting conditions for parties’ registration and code of conduct for candidates. “The impact will be seen after the elections, not now. I do not think the political culture has changed much,” he added.

Prof Muzaffer supported the proposal for independent auditor for auditing political parties’ funding and expenditure to ensure financial transparency.

He criticised the EC’s failure to take steps against candidates and political parties for not submitting expenditure statements during the 2001 elections. He, however, expressed hope that accountable management of political parties would begin if the Representative of the People Order (RPO) and independent auditing can be implemented.

Talking on the “minus-two” formula, Prof Muzaffer said the government and a few foreign powers wanted the two top leaders to leave the country out of sympathy to give them a respectable exit.

“If the two leaders have any fault, it needs to be resolved through democratic process. Otherwise, it is the responsibility of the political parties to minus any of its leaders,” he added.

If the government could be more coordinated and conducted the anti-corruption drives in a more selective way by setting priorities instead of being so hasty, it could have achieved the target it had set at the outset, he noted. The government counsels also have some failure in preparing and presenting cases and prosecution.

“I guess the government asked them [the Anti-Corruption Commission] to go slow when it started the dialogue process with political parties; it might also have obstructed their work,” said Prof Muzaffer.

Opposing the statement that reform was imposed on political parties, he said Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina placed 31-point reform demands before parliament, which later formed the basis of the dialogue between Abdul Jalil and Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan.

Citizens also demanded reforms, he said, adding, “Taking all these into consideration, the government tried to implement the suggestions.”