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Books on Bangladesh
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Update No: 015 - (28/03/07)
ELECTIONS POSTPONED AMIDST PARTY REFORM
According to a recent statement released by the Election Commission of
Bangladesh, parliamentary elections will be postponed until early next year.
Election Commissioner, Sakhawat Hossain stated that the commission plans to
complete registration of parties seeking to contest the elections by July and
then draw up a list of voters. This measure has been taken to ensure that
elections are held in a credible fashion. As stated earlier, the army-backed
interim administration has also launched a crackdown on corruption, specifying
that no election can be held until Bangladeshi politics are cleansed of
widespread graft and critical reforms implemented to ensure a free election. The
election commission plans to hold the next election without insisting on voter
identity cards, to avoid any further delays. However, voters' photographs
affixed to their names on the electoral roll will be used to prevent fraud. Most
Bangladeshis want the interim government to "eliminate" corruption
from politics and governance before setting an election date. Army-led security
forces have detained more than 160 senior political figures, mostly from the two
major parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in
the anti-sleaze drive including the son of BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia. The
reforms proposed by the Election Commission hope to achieve, transparency in the
activity of the political parties, promote democratic practices within the
parties and prevent anyone but politicians from participating in elections.
Moreover, retired civilian government officials or military personnel will not
be allowed to participate in polls immediately after retirement. They would need
to have engaged in politics for at least three years before they can run for
office. Businessmen may also be barred from running for office. These reforms
along with a massive anti-corruption campaign under the leadership of interim
government head Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed indicate that Bangladesh is learning from
its mistakes and heading towards the right democratic path.
BANGLADESH-UK RELATIONS
British Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon is arriving in
Bangladesh to hold talks with the country's caretaker government and political
leaders. During his two-day stay in Dhaka, McKinnon is meeting with Chief
Advisor, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Foreign Affairs Advisor Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed
Choudhury and other members of the non-party caretaker government. Discussions
will center on Commonwealth issues as well as an exchange of views on the
current political situation. He is also meeting with the Chief Electoral
Commissioner, Dr. A. T. M. Shamsul Huda, to discuss preparations for the
postponed elections and possible Commonwealth assistance in that regard. After
his visit to Bangladesh, McKinnon will travel to India for a visit from March 21
to 23. In New Delhi, he will call on the President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam,
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath,
Minister of Finance P. Chidambaram and the Minister of State for External
Affairs, Shri E. Ahamed. On March 22, McKinnon will deliver a lecture on the
challenges of the 21st century at the Indian Council of World Affairs and will
also address the opening session of the Commonwealth Connects International
e-Partnership Summit on March 23, an ICT development project, which aims to
bridge the digital divide across the Commonwealth.
ECONOMY
The Bangladesh government is meeting with the association of mobile phone
operators to discuss how they could increase revenue shares of the nation as
originally intended in the mobile phone agreements signed in 1996. Due to
inappropriate political clout exercised during the rule of the four-party
alliance and also of the Awami League (AL), the mobile companies ended up giving
only 5.5 percent revenue to the government instead of 15 percent as required by
the original contract. The government wants to encourage the phone companies to
float shares in the local securities market. The first meeting of its kind to be
held by the telecom ministry will also ask the mobile phone companies to find
modalities through which a larger part of their revenue stays in Bangladesh. The
meeting will be attended by high officials of the ministries of finance and
commerce, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Telegraph and
Telephone Board, Signal Corps Division of Bangladesh Army and two
representatives from the mobile phone operators association. Other agenda items
for the meeting include increase of job opportunity for local people in the
phone companies, further reduction of call rates and overall service
improvement. The government has been aware that the mobile companies have been
taking advantage of an uneven set of options, which benefited them most. The
2001 caretaker government took note of this irregularity and came up with a
report saying that the government was being deprived of hundreds of crores of
taka in revenue. This report went to the ministries of law and finance for
follow-up action. An amendment of the provisions will enable the government to
use mobile companies to serve the national interest better without making undue
profit.
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