Selection, not election

Old faces rule the grassroots committees of the ruling Awami League, blocking way for the young minds to come to the fore.

In a council, the office bearers of a committee are mostly picked through selection, not by popular choice. This, more often than not, prevents new faces from making it to the leadership tier, a key purpose of holding councils according to the AL constitution.

Then again, the committees hardly have all its members. Usually, the presidents and the general secretaries are chosen in the council and they are given the task to pick the rest of the committee members.

Months and weeks go by but the full-fledged committee remains elusive, to the frustrations of the grassroots leaders and activists.

Grievances from such practices sometimes lead to the formation of rebel committees, triggering factional feuds and eventually weakening the organisational strength.

However, AL top leaders speak in favour of the existing trends and say these are done to avoid unwarranted situations.

SAME OLD FACES

The AL could hold councils of around 55 district units out of total 74 in the last two years though it aimed to complete all the councils by December last year. Now the party wants to do it by December this year.

However, in most of these 55 chapters, old faces remained at the helm of the committees. There was no voting in the councils of most units. The guardians of the party grassroots were selected through consensus.

For example, Sherpur AL held its council on May 19, first since 2003. Incumbent president Atiur Rahman Atik and general secretary Chandan Paul were given the charges for another term. Interestingly, the election process, the most important part of a council, lasted less than five minutes as there were no contenders.

In Patuakhali, Shahjahan Mia and Khan Mosharef Hossain became president and general secretary of the AL's district chapter through a council in December last year. They have been holding the posts for the over three decades now.

Sheikh Harun-ur-Rashid and SM Mostofa Rashidi Suja had been the president and the general secretary of Khulna district AL for 22 years. And they retained their posts through a council in November last year.

Only a handful districts -- including Rajshahi City, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Feni, Dinajpur, Kurigram and Natore -- went to voting.

And the results were surprising.

Rajshahi City unit got a new president and a new general secretary, Thakurgaon new president, Panchagarh new general secretary, Feni new president and new general secretary, Dinajpur new president and new general secretary, Kurigram new president and Natore new president and new general secretary.

New leaderships took charge of some units through consensus as well, but only in a negligible number of cases.

INCOMPLETE COMMITTEES

According to the party charter, a district unit has to hold council every three years to pick a 71-strong executive committee with 37 office bearers and 34 members.

Only six to seven of the 55 district chapters have so far got full-fledged committees. The rest have only presidents and general secretaries in the committees.

The last council of the Barisal city AL was held in December, 2012. The then Barisal City Corporation mayor Shawkat Hossain Hiron was elected president and Afzalul Karim became general secretary of the chapter. More than two years have passed since the committee started its journey but it is yet to have all its members.

In fact, following Hiron's death in April last year, the general secretary is all the city unit committee now has.

In Kushtia, Sador Uddin and Asgor Ali were made president and general secretary of the district unit through a council in November last year.

The selection of the unit's two most important leaders aggrieved many in the grassroots and they announced a rebel committee, with Kushtia Municipality Mayor Anwar Ali and Kustia-4 MP Abdur Rouf at the helm of it, the same day.

Both the committees, along with some more, are now awaiting party chief Sheikh Hasina's approval, according to AL sources.

'IT'S All RIGHT'

The central leaders of the AL claim whatever processes are being followed in the councils are "circumstantially right".

On re-election of old faces, an AL central committee member said many grassroots leaders have a tendency to cling to their posts till death.

"It is very difficult to elect new leadership under such circumstances. So, the party prefers selection to election in order to avoid any unwanted situation," he said, whishing anonymity.

AL Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif sees nothing wrong in the same faces being elected over and over again.

If any person gains the confidence of the party activists, he can be elected repeatedly, he said. "If old leaders are re-elected, then that will be the new leadership."