Changes in the powers of prime minister and parliament members are imperative for a new political settlement and a thrust in the economy, said finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on Saturday.聽聽聽
There are no checks and balances in the powers exercised by the prime minister and the parliament members, said the finance adviser while speaking at an event in the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific auditorium in the capital.
Reforms within the political parties are also a must, he added.聽聽聽
The discussion on the launch of a book titled Arthonity, Shashon O Khamata: Japita Jiboner Alekhya by economist Hossain Zilliur Rahman was also participated by, among others, Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, economist Mahbub Ullah, political analyst Altaf Parvez, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute president Humayun Kabir, and Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Fahmida Khatun.
The highlight of the discussion was that reforms in some fundamental issues should be carried out properly to check the rise of fascism again.聽聽
To achieve the objective (described in the book), elected representatives should be sent to the parliament as early as possible, said Mirza Fakhrul in the discussion earlier.
The BNP general secretary said that elected representatives would implement necessary reforms, highlighting what he called the unstable situation under the interim government that assumed power after the ouster of the Awami League regime amid a mass uprising in the past year.
Noting that there is no change in the police, he said that businesses now had to pay Tk 5 lakh in bribe in place of Tk 1 lakh in the past.
There is neither good governance nor control, added the BNP secretary general.
Noting that establishment of good governance is a challenging job, the finance adviser said that almost all institutions were ruined by the ousted Awami League regime during its unbroken 15-year rule.
Besides, the (institutional) processes have also been destroyed amid the breakdown of rules and laws, said the finance adviser, lamenting that most people involved in the processes over the past one and a half decades had remained unchanged.
The finance adviser commented that the suggestion made by many to discard them was not possible, adding that they had to get work done by them with affection.
Referring to the disasters caused in the financial sector by the AL regime, the finance adviser said that the International Monetary Fund had calculated the requirement of $35 billion for restructuring the banking sector in place of previous $18 billion.
Highlighting the economic mismanagement during the AL regime, he said that the economic disparity had reached an alarming level.
Measures for checking the inequality should be taken immediately, he commented.
While Altaf Parvez stressed the need for a greater reform in the police and judiciary to overcome the colonial mindset, Humayun Kabir observed that the new generation had not been convinced by the old narrative.
Fahmida noted that the writer highlighted in the book the message for greater reforms which he emphasised in its 49 articles, most of which were published in different dailies.
