Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns Essay Writing

Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns Essay Writing [ in bengali : বাংলাদেশে সুশাসন : সমালোচনা ও সংশ্লিষ্ট বিষয়াবলী ] is a common topic in many competitive exams in Bangladesh. Today we will create a sample or essay for students. We suggest not memorising the essay but rather taking an idea and writing the essay later on by own language and style.

Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns - National Emblem of Bangladesh
National Emblem of Bangladesh

 

Good Governance in Bangladesh Essay

Introduction:

Good governance has become a hot subject in developing countries. Day by day, the intellectuals, bureaucrats and civil society members are accepting the spirit of the concept and conceptualizing it in their own experience and environment. In Bangladesh, all the internal and external actors of politics, administration and development are emphasizing the need for good governance.

Today, it is not only an academic issue rather it is being discussed in aid forums and executive meetings and discussions. But the actual picture of governance in our country does not prove to be good and satisfactory.

 

Bangladeshi National Flag - Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns Essay Writing
Bangladeshi National Flag

 

Good Governance Concept:

In general, good governance means an ideal governing system that is inevitable for the political, economic, social and cultural development of a country. An ideal governing system means the ideal orientation of a state that works best to achieve self-reliance, sustainable development and social justice and the ideal functioning of government that operates most effectively.

Elements of good governance:

The elements of good governance tend to vary from country to country. However, there are some common elements that are necessary for establishing good governance in a country. These may be enunciated as under:

  • Political accountability comes mostly through credible electoral processes.
  • Freedom of association and participation ensure greater roles of civil society and greater involvement of beneficiaries in the development planning and implementation process.
  • A sound judicial system that is independent and maintains equity for all before the law.
  • Bureaucratic accountability and transparency make public officials answerable in the management of public funds.
  • Freedom of and access to information related to government activities.
  • Capacity building of the public including administrative reform.

Besides the above ingredients, the broader concept of good governance includes rule of law, democratization, combating corruption, probity and human rights as elements of good governance.

 

Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns Essay Writing

 

Good governance in Bangladesh:

At present, good governance in Bangladesh is far from the actual consonance of the term. There are several factors and issues that are constraining the very process of good governance. The major factors are

a. Corruption in Bangladesh:

Corruption is a big obstacle in the way of good governance in Bangladesh. It promotes the interests of a few corrupt people and they do slow and down the investment and growth. It prevents a fair distribution of national wealth and broadens the gap between the rich and the poor.

b. Inefficiency of Bureaucracy in Bangladesh :

The bureaucracy of Bangladesh is not efficient in management and administration. The capacity of policy implementation of our bureaucracy is very poor. Bureaucrats are not accountable and transparent to the people. Even, there is no effective mechanism to make them accountable and transparent.

c. Political interference in administration in Bangladesh:

In our country, the administration is always to work under the influence of the party in power. Sometimes, political influence breeds factionalism in the administration which in turn result in demoralization, utter negligence of work and often serious tension among the bureaucrats.

d. Nepotism in Bangladesh:

Nepotism is another curse of our politics and administration. The rules in our country pursue nepotism. They give privilege and undue advantage to their family members, kiths and kins on public resources. So the mass people remain deprived and marginalized and this process is continuing with the regime after regime.

e. Improper and non-observance of the rule of law in Bangladesh:

The mass people in Bangladesh believe that rule of law is just not in existence in the country. They do not rely on the government in terms of the application of rule of law. It is said that laws are there but these are applied only in favour of privileged people or classes. As a result, justice suffers and is denied to the common people.

f. Improper use of resources in Bangladesh:

The fund flow in Bangladesh is not smooth for the local government, especially the Union Parishad. Besides, this fund is not utilized properly and is very often diverted to other purposes. So, the ordinary people cannot get the benefits and this obviously affects the efforts, if any, of ensuring good governance.

 

Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns Essay Writing - National Parliament of Bangladesh
National Parliament of Bangladesh

 

Measures for ensuring good governance:

Good governance, as a complex process, needs to be addressed seriously. For this, comprehensive and effective programs should be undertaken such as

1. Effective and accountable administration:

In order to make administration more effective, an essential prerequisite would be to right-size the government. For this, the following steps should be taken:

i) Certain institutions need to be streamlined and others, which have become, redundant, should be abolished. There is also a need for certain institutions to be reviewed in light of the changing economic conditions, nationally and globally.

ii) Functions of certain government agencies should be delegated to the private sector.

iii) New laws to be enacted and implemented in order to rationalise the existing employment rules within the public sector.

2. Combating corruption:

Ensuring good governance requires combating corruption. For this, the government should be accountable and transparent to the citizens. For this, institutions like the Bureau of Anti-Corruption, Ombudsman, Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh Public Service Commission etc. should be reformed and reorganized. So,

i) Bureau of Anti-Corruption should be free from executive influence in order to ensure progress in the right direction.

ii) The office of the Ombudsman must be established within a short time. The existing 1980 legislation needs to be amended.

iii) It is of paramount importance that an independent Human Rights Commission would be formed.

3. Ensuring the rule of law:

Rule of law is a precondition for good governance. In this regard, the highest priority should be given to the reform of police administration. For this, the following needs to be done:

i) Efficient police force could be established through proper training. For good governance, such a training program has to embody issues such as human rights, citizens’ rights and women’s rights.

ii) Greater police-citizen interaction and checking of corruption within the police should be developed.

iii) Community policing could be introduced in Bangladesh.

4. Local government reform:

It is necessary to carry out structural reform of the local government framework and its processes. So,

i) Local government functions need to be clearly specified. Related to this is the issue of decentralization of power.

ii) Steps should be taken to ensure the accountability of government officials vis-a-vis the elected representatives.

iii) The government has to take the decision to increase the revenue collection power of the local government. Furthermore, new sources of income need to be identified at the local govt. level and they should be given legal power to levy taxes.

5. Participation of women at different levels of administration:

There is considerable consensus that women’s representation through allocated seats is being demanded and the following proposals need to be considered:

  • Increase in the number of seats for women;
  • Direct election of women representatives to the allocated seats;
  • 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the total seats to be allocated by political parties by law for women candidates at general elections.

 

Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns Essay Writing - National Parliament of Bangladesh
National Parliament of Bangladesh

 

Conclusion:

Sincere efforts in implementing the above-mentioned programme can reinforce accountability, transparency and management functions of the government and administration. Although a lot of measures need to be taken for ensuring good governance utmost importance needs to be given to make the administration free from corruption, ensure people’s participation in politics and administration and after all, establish an efficient and effective policy system.

Good Governance in Bangladesh : Critical Issues and Concerns Essay Writing

Read More:

Leave a Comment