Staff Reporter :
The former adviser to the caretaker government, Akbar Ali Khan, on Saturday said that the employees of the Bangladesh Civil Service had earned a bad name and no political parties believe now a single Deputy Commissioner (DC).
He said this while addressing the eighth national conference of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SHUJAN) in the capital.
“There are lots of questions about whether Election Commission is holding fair elections. In India, there’s no such issue. The people of the administration are the returning officers in India. But Bangladesh Civil Service has been weakened. Political parties have no trust on them,” he added.
“Elections in India are held for a period of two or three months. The ballot boxes are kept under the responsibility of the DCs. Can we get any DC who will keep the ballot boxes under his control for a day? They have become biased. They don’t have the guts as well,” he asserted.
About the role of civil society in a democratic state, Akbar Ali Khan said, “The civil society is intertwined with democracy. They will present their analysis from the people’s point of view. The foundation of democracy will be weakened if civil society does not function.”
“The government blames that SHUJAN is critical of them. If SHUJAN praises the government, then who will criticise? The critics are not enemy, but friends,” the eminent economist said.
Another former adviser to the caretaker government, Wahiuddin Ahmed, said, “In order to make the economic development sustainable, the prerequisite is to ensure accountability in the governance system. Nowadays, it is said in the country that ‘development’ first, democracy later. It is not acceptable.”
The former Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said,
“The civil society is dispirited now. Day by day country is lagging behind in different indices of democracy. Small scale corruptions have been stopped due to digitization but the bigger corruptions are still rampant.”
SHUJAN Secretary Badiul Alam Majumder tabled 21-point national charter for political, economic, social and cultural reforms.
