Does Bangladesh need caretaker government any longer?

Our long-cherished dream is to have competent and honest democratic governments in succession with smooth transition and transfer of power. To ensure the aforementioned, all the elections must be fair and impartial under a truly independent Election Commission (EC), composed of non-partisan, capable and bold individuals. The politicians must have a mindset to accept the verdict of the people gracefully. The losing parties must accept defeat in true democratic spirit. While in the opposition, they must play a constructive role by agreeing on common national issues and disagreeing on issues in the wrong track to seek a middle ground. At the same time, the incumbent governing party/parties must be tolerant and respectful to the opposing views and the political opponents (they are not enemies). For sound functional democracy, this is a must.

The businesses in the parliament must be conducted in a congenial and democratic atmosphere allowing the opposition to play its due role. Discussions/debates must take place on important issues, relevant to vital national interests. All parties must refrain from personal attacks to show civility in the parliament. Unfortunately, our politicians remain far from the above. In many cases, their actions are self-serving and ill-motivated. This is very much unexpected of them. Knowingly, they promise a lot that they cannot deliver. In the process, the common people feel cheated by them. People did not vote for the government to have elected king or queen with all powers concentrated in a single hand. That's what we have been observing for the last 40 years since independence. We are currently in a big political mess. This was not created overnight. Blames go all around for creation of this mess over time.

To give benefit of doubt, the head of the government might have all good intentions and wonderful ideas with no clues of how to implement them. Implementation is impossible being closely surrounded by a large number of bad elements. These elements have only one goal to amass wealth using the head as shield. These sycophants are no friends. They will go to any length to please the heads and help them to perpetuate their undeserving family legacies in Bangladesh politics.

The caretaker government established in 1990 and enshrined in the constitution in 1996 is the product of the politicians' mutual disrespect, distrust and disagreement. To me, this is an undemocratic means to save democracy.  Its constitutionality is also in question. Truly, this is a self-inflicted insult on politicians themselves. To think carefully, they should be ashamed of themselves for unruly and childish behaviours requiring adult supervision of the unelected caretaker government at least for 90 days. They need to grow and mature, personally, professionally and politically. No other country in the world has such a strange creature.

Perhaps, this is what they could come up with as a solution in 1990 to get rid of the cancerous military rule in public or in disguise. Some self-branded political genius might have been tempted to term it as military democracy. How can military rule and democracy go together as oil and water cannot mix together? In its initial stages, the practice of democracy may be chaotic and messy. But there is no better alternative. The practice must continue in good faith to settle finally on a steady democratic path.

How can an undemocratic means, such as, caretaker government can save democracy in the long run? It could be an undesired short-term fix, but should not be a long-term cure for democracy. Unfortunately, still after 20 years some prominent lawyers of the Supreme Court have to argue in its favour, because the politicians cannot yet ensure free and fair elections in all sincerities. There are some merits in this argument, given the prevailing poisonous political climate.

Some even view it as a deterrent to martial law. If politicians by their own imprudence make it inevitable, who can stop it? But the question remains how long has the nation to wait to see our politicians grow up as responsible adults? How long does the nation have to live with such strange creature? They created it and they don't like it either. To me, this seems to be something that we cannot live with and live without for a foreseeable future. But this must come to an end in a civilised society. The question is when? To many minds, time is not ripe yet. The politicians must bear the blames for such long delay.

In brief, people know the excesses of the immediate past military-backed and military-supported caretaker government that ruled the country under national emergency during 2007 and 2008 beyond the designated term for 90 days and going much beyond its only mandate to hold national election. Repeat of its background history in this write-up is not worth the ink and paper. The politicians brought a calamity for themselves. The nation hoped that they learned their lessons. Current events do not show that they have learned anything to correct themselves. The same old things are in play, again. They play foul since they have no respect for the rules of the game. They see nothing wrong in corruption as if this is their public participation in public money.

As stated at the very beginning, a truly independent and strengthened Election Commission (EC) is a must for free and fair elections to save democracy. The EC must be composed of non-partisan, capable and bold members. To have such EC what the nation needs at the moment is a political consensus across the board. If politicians care for the country, the people and, the democracy, reaching such consensus should not be difficult at all. What is lacking is their true and moral commitment for the country. They speak as champions of democracy for the country, but they do not practice democracy within their own parties. They must practice democracy within their respective party before they preach.

Otherwise, it becomes a fraud. The politicians in Bangladesh mostly seem to be coward and impotent. They must come out of this political impotency and create a new course, if necessary. Let us not waste valuable time on stale stories anymore. History is the ultimate judge of all events that will eventually take its own course. No one can distort and alter the facts. Attempts were made from August 16, 1975 through 1990 to erase the true history of independence. Could they succeed in this unholy venture? The answer is loud and clear. To save time, let us defer the unsettled facts to the ultimate judgment of history.

The preconditions for democracy to survive and succeed are healthy and truly independent democratic institutions that include the depoliticised civil administration, the military, the judiciary, the central bank, the ACC, the PSC, all academic institutions, and above all, the EC. Each must be equipped with competent, ethical and impartial individuals with sound and appropriate academic backgrounds. They all must be recruited and rewarded through a fair process with no political interferences. They must be kept non-partisan and their sanctity must be preserved.

Democracy in Bangladesh is nascent. It came through odd military interventions. Let us not let it be killed prematurely for politicians' follies. People in Bangladesh are simple-minded and innocent. Let them not be deceived anymore. Make them well aware of their rights and responsibilities through creative education. Let them be relieved of the undemocratic strange creature (the CG) within a definite timeframe. Allow all members of the parliament to vote on issues according to their conscience. Free them from the party-slavery and practice full democracy within the respective party.

To close, all must play by the rules and obey the laws of the land.  No one is above or beneath the law.  The country is much bigger than any individual.

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Dr. Matiur Rahman is the MBA Director and JP Morgan Chase Endowed Professor of finance at McNeese State University, USA.