AN ABNORMAL increase in the moveable and immovable assets of public representatives and public office holders has for long been an issue of concern. Such an abnormal increase in wealth certainly shows an association between tenure in office and a rapid increase in income and wealth, suggesting corrupt practices of those who are entrusted with public duties and are under the pledge not to seek self-interest. In the recently held first phase of the upazila council election, as a Transparency International Bangladesh report showed, the wealth of most candidates rerunning for the positions of chairman and vice chairman was found to have increased manifold, the maximum having been by 4,200 per cent. The wealth increase rate of many upazila council chairmen, the TIB report says, surpassed that of candidates rerunning in the national elections, where a maximum of 3,065 per cent increase in the moveable assets of a candidate was found. Another TIB report, made public on May 19, on the wealth increase of candidates running in the second phase of the upazila council election finds a similar trend, with the maximum wealth increase of a candidate rerunning for the position of chairman found to be 11,666 per cent while the income of a female vice chairman increased by 10,900 per cent in five years.
The TIB report, which analyses the affidavits of candidates submitted to the Election Commission, says that the wealth of many candidates rerunning in the elections has increased by 1,000鈥�8,000 per cent, while the average increase in income of incumbent candidates has been about 200 per cent. The report also shows that the wealth of the dependents of incumbent candidates has also increased manifold. The report also says that the electoral fray is dominated by businessmen, as more than 57 per cent of the total aspirants are businesspeople. Of the candidates contesting for the chairman post, 70.51 per cent are business people, while 68.73 per cent of the vice chairman candidates listed business as their profession. The number of candidates having assets over TK 1 crore has also increased threefold in five years 鈥� a total of 105 chairman candidates in the second phase, where elections to 160 upazila councils are being held, have moveable assets worth at least Tk 1 crore. All this shows that the wealth of representatives elected in both local and national elections increases to an extent that is not proportionate to the increase in the wealth of other people outside the process and that politics has turned out to be a money-making venture, crowded by businesspeople.
The authorities, especially the Election Commission, the National Board of Revenue and the Anti-Corruption Commission, must, therefore, investigate the increase in assets of the candidates that is not in sync with the increase in wealth of people outside the political process. The political parties must also make a course correction and not let politics be an affair of moneyed interests.
