A social movement must be waged to get rid of corruption from every corner of the society, an anti-corruption young campaign has concluded.
“I may not be able to eliminate corruption from the society fully, but I can make sure that no corruption is done by me that may harm others and the society.”
Sabuj Ahmed, a participant of the Transparency International (TIB) Sanak-Yes National Conference 2016, made the vow yesterday.
This year the national conference is being held after three years. The conference facilitated young people to communicate and share their views and thoughts with the other members of the organisation.
At the programme, speakers stressed on the need for practicing accountability, increasing self-consciousness and eliminating corruption from the society.
Earlier yesterday, TIB Chairman Sultana Kamal inaugurated the programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka.
In her speech, Sultana emphasised on accountability and conscience to fight corruption in the country.
“A citizen must report to the police when they see anything wrong happening around them and the police should take immediate actions regarding the matter,” she said.
Selina Hossain, secretary general of the TIB Board of Trustees, emphasised on waging a social movement against all institutional corruption including the corruption in the education, health and local government sectors.
She also said: “It is very important to wage a social movement against those who are killing the bloggers and hurting the writers.”
Citing the Language Movement as one of the nation’s strongest sources of power, Selina said: “We need a social movement to prevent similar incidents that took place in the Ekushey Boi Mela last year.”
In his welcoming speech, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said they had been working to establish good governance, defying all criticism and risks.
He said TIB followed transparency in running its operations as a registered entity.
“We do not receive or spend a single penny without the government’s auhtorisation. TIB needs to answer to the government always,” he said.
He also said that some people have turned TIB into their political competitor and some others compared the organisation with militant groups such as the Islamic State (IS). “Such attempts are impeding our work.”
Because of TIB’s advocacy, some policies and laws have been modified and Bangladesh has become a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, he highlighted.
Around 3,000 young people from across the country participated in the prgramme. A huge number of young members from the “YES and YES” were among them.