Political participation becoming a ‘power-centric business model’: Iftekharuzzaman

Abuse of power, black money and the criminalisation of politics are fuelling internal conflicts within major political parties, remarked Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).

As a result, he said, political participation or party affiliation is in many cases turning into a “power-centric business model”.

Iftekharuzzaman made the remarks at a press conference at TIB’s office in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, on Sunday afternoon. The event was organised to launch a research report titled Institutional Good Governance in Bangladesh’s Political Parties.

Responding to a question, Iftekharuzzaman said the July uprising had raised expectations that the practice of power politics would come to an end. In reality, however, nothing had changed.

According to him, power politics was fuelling factionalism and internal conflicts within parties, with people even losing their lives as a result. The problem was becoming more pronounced at the local level than at the national level, he said, describing the situation as worrying.

Highlighting the lack of good governance in the internal affairs of political parties, the TIB executive director said the absence of effective safeguards against irregularities, corruption and abuse of power, coupled with a lack of accountability, had led to the use of money and muscle power within major political parties. As a result, political violence was becoming normalised.

Iftekharuzzaman also spoke about political party financing. He said the prevailing political culture required substantial sums of money to run party activities. The funds were managed through informal processes, which were largely dependent on individuals, inevitably resulting in a lack of transparency.

There was also a substantial discrepancy between parties’ officially reported income and expenditure and the actual figures, he said.

He said there were serious shortcomings in good governance across virtually every aspect of the internal and institutional functioning of political parties.

He pointed out that despite the existence of laws and regulations, the legal framework remained inadequate to ensure internal democratic practices and transparency and accountability in political financing.

There were also inconsistencies between the country’s legal framework and international legal practices, Iftekharuzzaman added.

Pointing to discrepancies between Bangladesh’s party registration practices and those of other countries, the TIB executive director said the process was excessively restrictive in many cases.

At the same time, he said, the absence of effective mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability meant that a system based on legal requirements could, from the outset, foster money-driven competition for patronage.

Iftekharuzzaman also highlighted the dominance of dynastic and elitist tendencies in party leadership.

Responding to a question, he said inadequate participation by grassroots representatives, people from diverse backgrounds and women was allowing dynastic and elite interests to dominate leadership development.

Meanwhile, ordinary people with the ability to lead at the local level were being denied opportunities, he said. “This can never be positive for democratic practice. The situation needs to change.”

The TIB executive director stressed the importance of internal reforms to ensure institutional good governance within political parties.

He said internal reform was essential to ensuring good governance in the institutional functioning of political parties, which are among the major institutions of democracy.

Responsibility for reform rests with the political parties themselves, Iftekharuzzaman said. As a prerequisite for the future of democracy in the country and for restoring public trust in political parties, their leaders must hold themselves to account and take reform proposals seriously, he added.

The research report was presented at the press conference by TIB senior research fellow Mohammad Zulkarnain, research associates Kawsar Ahmed and Kazi Aminul Hasan.

Also present were TIB adviser-executive management Professor Sumaiya Khair, director of the Research and Policy Division Mohammad Badiuzzaman, and director of the Outreach and Communication Division Mohammad Touhidul Islam.