A citizen’s thoughts on reforming the republic

In the last five decades-plus, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has lurched from crises to crises. It has been home to coups and counter-coups, to assassinations, to botched and unfair elections, to non-elected caretaker and interim administrations, to ineffectual parliament, to elected leaders turning authoritarian rulers, to corruption eating away at the vitals of the state, to high-handedness of the powers that be, to communalism threatening the foundational principles of the state, to history subjected to distortion and selective interpretation.

In recent years, much talk has focused on reforming the state. Nothing meaningful was, however, done about it. The state has gone on in the time-honoured, traditional way of being part of citizens’ lives. Political leadership has, since the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the four national leaders, dwindled into partisan affairs. Generals have become presidents; and prime ministers have never been able to rise to the occasion through unifying the nation, through transforming themselves into leaders who could be looked upon to steer the nation through stormy political waters.

And these are issues which have consistently exercised citizens’ minds. In 2024, with the country having witnessed the fall of yet another government in its turbulent history, it will perhaps be pertinent to reflect on what might yet be done to reconfigure the state, indeed reform it, in the interest of present and future generations of Bangladesh’s people. It is a citizen’s thoughts here that could be reflected on, that could broaden out into an expression of intent by people across the board.

So here goes, a simple yet necessary idea of how the state of Bangladesh could turn around to reassure its citizens that it holds in itself the wherewithal to be a meaningful part of an overall global future:

1. The present system of adult franchise based on the first-past-the-post process of elections will require a change into a proportional system of representation in order to prevent a winner-take-all election result that will impose a party on parliament with an unassailable majority. Much of the predicament we have faced in these many years has had to do with political parties coming by huge majorities, leaving little or no opposition in parliament. Proportional representation will curb the powers of parties to dominate parliament, will in many instances ensure consensus and compromise in a resolution of issues that could arise in the country through parliamentary deliberations.

2. The time may have arrived when a second chamber, the aim being to second-guess legislation by the lower house, is an idea that could be reflected on. In the heat of the moment, a lower house generally tends to adopt policies that may come back to haunt those who fashioned them, which is why a second chamber or upper house will act as a restraining factor in the passage of measures that will require a dispassionate understanding of political conditions in the country.

3. Any reform of the state will necessarily take into consideration an expansion of the powers of the president of the republic. In the current circumstances, the president enjoys no authority other than appointing the prime minister and affixing
his signature to measures passed in parliament. That makes for a toothless presidency, a situation which can change through empowering the president to remove the prime minister when he is convinced that he or she is unable to ensure peaceful political conditions in the country.

At the same time, it should be the authority of the president to dismiss parliament and call for new elections when he is convinced that conditions for such a measure exist in the country. The president must be in full command of the armed forces as supreme commander. The president must be empowered to reject or return to parliament any legislative measure he believes is not conducive to public welfare or contravenes the provisions of the constitution.

4. In any democracy, institutions must be fully empowered to carry out their functions without any interference from the executive or being influenced by it. To that end, the Election Commission and the Anti-Corruption Commission must be turned into fully independent bodies which will not brook any attempts by political parties or any other body to undermine their authority. The ACC should be invested with powers to not only summon those alleged to be corrupt to its offices but also have the untrammelled authority to order the arrest of people who need to be prosecuted for corrupt and/or criminal activities. It could do what India’s Enforcement Directorate has been doing as part of its remit.

5. A necessary part of the reform process should be a reorganization of the civil service through having it break out of the colonial mould it has largely operated in. Individuals selected for government service should be placed in ministries and departments they originally opted to sit examinations for entry into the civil service. This will of course entail that measures should be in place for candidates to apply for service in particular ministries or departments rather than applying for careers
in a non-specific, random manner. Secretaries and other senior officials must not be moved from ministry to ministry, for that undermines the work of government.

 

6. The reform package should aim at a reduction in the number of ministries of the government, for a leviathan presence of ministries weighs down and slows down the work of government, indeed promotes sloth in administration. Small government is good government because it is a guarantee against the civil service turning into a bureaucracy tied down in red tape and inefficiency. Reforms of the
civil service will also contribute to a smaller cabinet, with many of the offices of ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers done away with. Civil service reforms should aim at promoting meritocracy at all levels of the administration, including the nation’s foreign service as well as the police service.

7. A reform of the state must bring into focus the imperative of upholding the history of the War of Liberation. The contributions of the Father of the Nation and the Mujibnagar government to the emergence of Bangladesh will need to be spelt out
and constitutionally upheld as part of the reform process. At the same time, it will be necessary to abjure any attempts to be selective or partisan when the matter is one of officially recording the contributions of all the sector commanders whose
role in 1971 is known to the people of the country. To strip any sector commander of his honours and contributions through political partisanship should be considered a crime and dealt with as such.

8. Reforming the state will be possible when every move, every measure by governments in the past -- the Special Powers Act, Digital Security Act, Cyber Security Act, et cetera -- are declared unlawful and ultra vires of the constitution. Any future measures of a similar nature can and must be challenged in any court of law and individuals in government initiating such repressive measures must be summoned by the judiciary and grilled, followed by the ACC applying the law against him or her in the larger interest of the state.

9. In the final analysis, any reform of the Bangladesh state must ensure in a constitutional manner the secular nature of the republic as originally enshrined in the constitution. Provisions must be included in the law and adopted by a future elected parliament that all political parties desirous of engaging in political activities must adhere to the principle of secularism in their efforts to earn public support for their policies and programs. Any deviation from such provisions will be cause for the judiciary to intervene and strike down any move aimed at a violation of the foundational underpinnings of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

In these critical times, when the nation is faced with uncertainty about its future, when the state is under assault from elements who would put it to the torch, who have been going around dismantling the symbols of national history, firmness of purpose in recovering what we have lost is today an imperative. The road to recovery necessarily lies through shaping and implementing reforms that will have citizens reclaim their national honour.