Hassan Ariff for bringing out electoral institutions from control of political party

LGRD and Cooperatives Adviser A. F.  Hassan Ariff today stressed the need for making effective the electoral system from national level to local government by bringing out the electoral institutions from party control. “We have to free the (electoral) institutions from the control of the (political) party,” he said while addressing a national dialogue on electoral reform organized by Governance Advocacy Forum in cooperation with Asia Foundation at CIRDAP auditorium here.

The adviser said Bangladesh is yet to make stronger the local government system although such government system is being practiced in the sub-continent for over the last 100 years. He said, “There are many things in the laws. But, we cannot implement those. The political will of the elected representatives must be strong (to execute the provisions of the laws).” Ariff opined that the demand for reformation of the local government should be placed before the elected government as there is no guarantee of continuation of the interim government’s reforms afterwards.   

“So, the elected representatives and the political parties must be made committed (to make necessary electoral reforms),” he added. The LGRD adviser came up with the opinion that the local government bodies face various problems to render services to the people due to lack of authority, manpower, financial constraint and proper management.

“The union parishads have been facing enormous problem to this end. The organizations have not been able to play due role for tripartite conflict among Member of Parliament (MP), upazila parishad chairman and UNO (upazila nirbahi officer),” he said. The adviser advocated for forming “city government” in the city corporations. He opined the advices from the lawmakers in conducting development at the local level although there is no compulsion of doing that in laws.

Local Government Division Secretary Abu Hena Morshed Zaman, Executive Director of the Asia Foundation Mohsin Ali, Dhaka University Teacher Prof Dr Mobasser Monem, Asia Foundation Country Director Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj, among others, spoke at the seminar.