A STUDY report released by a local research organization and covered by the press on Sunday stated that even after 44 years of independence, Bangladesh has failed to develop its democratic institutions, which is a major impediment in building liberal democratic culture. In the parliamentary form of government, when the parliament does not enjoy sovereignty and is unable to supervise the executive and judiciary branches, the House of the nation then becomes ineffective. Such a situation mainly evolves due to political conflicts.The study of Brac Institute of Governance and Development covers elections, and social and economic governance. It has exposed governance weakness in a time span corresponding to other states who got independence almost at the same time. The government is the sole agent for improving the democratic institutions, although the role of civil society, media and judiciary is not limited.The report said that the parliamentary elections between 1991 and 2008 though were deemed acceptable and fair; the 10th election was marred by dubious role of the Election Commission and improper environment for credible elections. In January 05 polls (2014), more than half of the seats were declared elected unopposed and the main opposition boycotted it. By all counts, it was voter less elections. The election of Jan 05 raised concerns about the democratic gains made till then through competitive polls and the exercise of franchise.The weakness of the EC has put its credibility under question, a major blow for democracy also. Boycotting parliament by the main opposition party in every national parliament has seriously undermined the quality of representation in parliament and hence its effectiveness. The effectiveness of parliamentary oversight of the executive has been limited due to some factors, including limited independence of parliamentary committees, low capacity of parliamentary staff and lack of responsiveness of the ministries.About the economy, the report said that Bangladesh did not face any major economic challenge in a decade while the world faced serious crisis except the present banking debacle. Political favoritism, lack of professionalism and accountability with the culture of recapitalization have been shrinking the state-owned banks. However, the country has achieved benchmarks in education in terms of pass rate, enrolment, higher scores in public exams and lower drop-out rate. But frequent changes in books, curricula, examination and grading systems are likely to affect the quality and performance of schools. Bangladesh has achieved success in lowering child and mother mortality but healthcare system in rural areas and state provided healthcares are still suffering from both quality and coverage.In line with the experts, we also think that lack of proper initiative to develop intellectual and cultural institutions, the democratic institutions in particular; will pull back the economic progress and even reverse the development at one stage. The government should have a complete change in mindset in allowing all democratic institution and other statutory bodies and let them work freely, independent of the government or else democracy has little chance to come out of its dysfunctional state.
