Corruption and political influence are the main barriers to the development of the local government administration, said a study of the Transparency International Bangladesh yesterday.
The study, however, gave credit to the government for some achievements in the administration of the local government.
But it said the achievement could have been greater if there had been no corruption and political influence. The TIB suggested a withdrawal of lawmakers’ involvement in the local administration to ensure good governance.
The TIB organised a roundtable discussion at Brac Inn Center where the research report said widespread irregularities and corruption took place in different tiers of the local government.
Discussants at the roundtable, however, criticised the report saying that it did not mention any specific proposal for the way out.
TIB officials Rabiul Islam and Farhana Rahman presented the research findings while local government experts Zarina Rahman Khan, Salahuddin M Aminuzzaman and Tofail Ahmed discussed the paper.
TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman moderated the roundtable discussion. State Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives Mashiur Rahman Ranga was present at the discussion as the chief guest.
The TIB put forward an 18-point recommendation to free the local government bodies from irregularities and corruption.
M Hafizuddin Khan, member of the Trustee Board of the TIB, said there were criticisms about the local government as the negative issues always come to the forefront in discussions.
“But it does not mean that there is nothing positive. Our main concern is to identify how much the political leaders are willing to do to end the corruption,” he said.
The research reveals that a maximum of 10% bribe is given to the local government department to get projects and special allocations and about 10% to 20% is given to the ruling political party leaders and activists to get work orders.
The research report also said the contractors have to pay bribes to the local government officials for their work, to get work orders, working bills and so on.
The paper suggested 18 recommendations to make the local government more effective.
The recommendations include ending the interference of MPs, proper balance in the power and responsibility between administration and local government, rewarding honest and good officials and punishing the corrupt officials, the introduction of e-procurement and digitised taxation.