A NOTED educationist of the country has said the unholy nexus between politicians and bureaucrats have bred largely unchecked corruption in every layer of public works. It would be impossible to stamp out corruption from the country until and unless the nation’s top echelons of politics are cleaned up. Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, former adviser to the caretaker government, came up with the statement while addressing a meeting arranged by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday.
The unholy nexus is getting stronger day by day as the checks and balances among the four pillars of a democracy — executive, judiciary, legislative, and media – are bluntly missing in the legislature and political culture. Although audits and ombudsmen are adequately provided for in our Constitution and laws those are largely absent in practice as institutions.
Moreover, nepotism is the root cause of corruption as it breeds massive irregularities during recruitments, transfers and postings by the government. To reverse the prevailing situation, ACC should catch some of the big fishes known to be corrupt. If the ACC succeeds in catching at least some of them it would obviously create pressure on the others. Transparency in the bureaucracy could prevent corruption as bureaucrats are working everywhere including the public and the private sectors as well as in the political arena.
It is observed that a good number of MPs submitted forged documents regarding their wealth statements to the Election Commission along with their nomination papers. How could we expect them to protect common people’s rights in Parliament when they began their journey by providing false statements? Politicians as the people’s representatives should refrain from starting their parliamentary journey with falsehood as another general election is in the offing. Prominent lawyer Barrister M Amirul Islam said political pollution is bound to affect the whole society unless its quality is improved.
Without establishing accountability from the top-down of the administration and social accountability from the bottom-up, it would never be possible to free the administration and the society from the grip of corruption. The government should ensure the rights of voting to people because a participatory election guarantees the accountability of politicians.
Only democratic practices could check the corruption. Without restoration of electoral democracy, the accountability would be a far cry. We think appointment of an Ombudsman to check the evil practice is a sheer necessity.
