Govt. should shun constitutionally flawed, ethically wrong path

Given the ongoing opposition political movement for non-party administration, commotion and mayhem over the popular demand for neutral poll-time government because almost 90 per cent of the people believe that rigging-free, fair and credible general election is impossible under a party government; light at the end of the tunnel is yet to be seen. Hope springs eternal, they say; but hopelessness and despondency pervade every nook and cranny of today’s Bangladesh.
At such a juncture another quandary has been invited by the the ruling Awami League (AL). According to a news report on 12 November, most of the cabinet members handed their resignations at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting, “leaving the matter [of putting the date] to the prime minister’s decision.” The cabinet secretary later told a news briefing that the “prime minister would send some resignations to the president and induct some new figures for reconstitution of her cabinet.”
Let us see what the Constitution says. Article 58 (1) (a) of the Constitution states: “The office of a Minister other than the Prime Minister becomes vacant” the moment s/he hands his or resignation letter to “the Prime Minister for submission to the President.” Regardless of what date the prime minister puts in the letters, as per the said constitutional provision, all the ministers and state ministers stand relieved of their offices from 11 November. Despite this the incumbents have sought to create the impression that the matter is in the hands of the prime minister, with a number of cabinet members asserting that they would continue holding their offices until their resignations were accepted by the President and gazette notifications were issued to this effect.
Who knows, there may be more surprise, possibly unpleasant, in store for the people to witness as there is no dearth of publicity stunts and gimmicks engineered by the AL; but the most recent attention-grabber is this submission of “undated resignation letters” to the prime minister by all ministers and state ministers of the Awami League(AL) -led government on 11 November.
Earlier, on November 9 there was a little bit of hope of conflict resolution in the PM’s speech in which she said that to her “peace and welfare of people are more important than the premiership”. While addressing the national conference of Khatibs and Trained Imams in Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina said with reference to destructive activities like burning people to death during Hartal called by opposition parties, “I don’t need the premiership, I don’t want premiership”. But her subsequent move of taking resignation letters runs counter to her statement that peace and welfare of people are more important than the premiership.
A constitutionally imperfect and ethically questionable attitude and action may antagonise the opposition more and instigate political insecurity leading to further violent commotions, vandalism, deaths and destruction. The government’s casualness and lack of concern imply that the incumbents may be banking on the law enforcing agencies of the state and ruling party’s muscle power. Such a tactic will be counterproductive in the ling run.
In view of the terrible faux pas and very costly blunders that the AL committed over the past four decades, it has often been said by opinion leaders that the successive high commands of the party have done the worst disservice to the 64-year old party which was in the vanguard of the Liberation War. Capturing billboards prior to the Eidul Fitr this year was an inept publicity blitz. The idea of going for a “propaganda offensive was triggered when the prime minister’s son declared that he had come to Bangladesh to help his mother counter the malicious lies being spread about his mother’s government” wrote the editor of a major English daily adding that “the Harvard consultants that the PM’s son reportedly engaged may have talked about the political propaganda that occurs during the American presidential and other elections in which the mass media is used including billboards. Paying for the whole process must have also come up”. It is a vital question as to why none in the government or in the party raised the matter of illegality in the propaganda campaign.
It goes without saying that the nation is faced with a crisis at a perilous juncture as regards its future over the modality and methodology of the poll-time administration. Since coming to power in 2009 through a controversial election held under a military-backed government, the ruling AL regime has been hell bent on almost eliminating the main parliamentary Opposition, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders through repression, imprisonment and torture.
It is a recognised fact that the non-party Caretaker Government (CG), a unique system devised by this country, was instituted —- following violent street agitations for over two years by Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami —- to remove the possibility of an incumbent political government influencing electoral processes; and the outcome was excellent. The elections held under the CG in 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2008 were universally acknowledged as free and fair by election observers at home and abroad. Through this system the two big political parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power. To sum up, the ruling Awami League has unsettled a settled issue —- the Caretaker Government (CG) system. Now the onus is on the Awami League chief and PM Sheikh Hasina to solve the national crisis.

Source: Weekly Holiday