Politics has to change to cure Bangladesh of economic ills
What is good politics for a party, or any party, may not result in good economics. The ruling class in Bangladesh will ridicule this concern, referring to the remarkable economic growth the country has boasted for more than a decade. If the growth in GDP is all that matters, then the discontent shown on the streets and social media platforms is hard to explain. The privileged, who have been exploiting the status quo and would like to ensure it never ends, have an explanation though. They say those who are aggrieved are a small group of opponents of national development.
Is that so? No. Since the demonstrations of disagreement on politics, as it is now in Bangladesh, and policies adopted to regulate everything from politics, law and order, and economy, have been directly or indirectly punished, whenever tracked down, people seek out alternative routes to let out their anger. That is why students, who still have years before joining the workforce, and adults who have long passed the age to apply for government jobs, joined the protesters demanding reforms to the quota system in public recruitment. That's how they became part of the mass rather than people who could be singled out.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. However, anyone living in the cocoon of power should have felt the heat of public discontent, if they wanted to, long ago. It is just around the corner at roadside tea stalls in conversations between people worried about income prospects, soaring living expenses, and threats of losing everything to the unfair and biased system.
Prof Anu Muhammad once said the money spent on roads, bridges, and flyovers also drives up GDP, but that may not be translated into better economic well-being of the people. An economy is only successful when the growth in economic output touches all equally, irrespective of their social statuses and connections to political, legal, and economic institutions of the country.
Is this the case in Bangladesh? The answer lies in the corruption status of the country revealed by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in January this year. It earned a score of 24 on a scale of 100, according to the Corruption Perception Index 2023. The score is the country's lowest in 12 years and the second worst after Afghanistan in 2023. TIB says that the state institutions responsible for curbing corruption are "under political and bureaucratic influence."
The misuse or abuse of power has a manifestation almost in every small and big industry, the equity market, and even in kitchen markets. The market overall seems to have gone under the control of a few who can influence the state machinery and political and economic institutions to their benefit.
Hence, the government's zero-tolerance-against-corruption stance reiterated in almost every public speech seems nothing but phoney.
Now what happens when those who are being ruled do not trust the ruler? They do not invest their capital to launch or expand a business, fearing everything will be taken away by those who can exercise power. Those who do not have capital feel hopeless about any prospects of elevating their living standards without access to political power. So, they do not consider exploring opportunities, if there are any, to improve their skills, because better skills mostly go in vain when bribery and lobbying play a bigger role in employment and entrepreneurship.
This is the context against which hundreds of thousands of people are leaving this country through illegal sea channels to reach the shores of the European nations, the Middle East, Malaysia, China, and the US, though the risks are well-known, as they are extensively reported by the media, NGOs, and INGOs. In fact, in 2023, the number of such migrants to European countries surged 10 percent to 337,008 from the year before, and in 2022 it escalated 58 percent year-on-year, according to The European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
Illegal migration spiked at a time of praiseworthy GDP growth.
There are reasons, such as climate change and lack of jobs, but those who are giving Tk 5 lakh to Tk 10 lakh, sometimes even more, to migration rackets, by selling ancestral properties or borrowing from unconventional sources at sky-high interest rates, could also think of opening a small business in their upazilas, districts or cities. They don't. The risk of crossing the Mediterranean Sea does not seem as great as overcoming the barriers put in place by law enforcement agencies and relevant authorities to get clearance for a small business. And then the regulatory bodies would keep on twisting the arm of the small investors to get whatever they want.
There are blatant examples within our range of visibility. We, residents of Dhaka, are so familiar with small roadside shops being vandalised every few months, but that is not done to free roads but to extort money before vendors return to the same place with new unofficial permits. One fruit vendor once told me he was tired of setting up his business again and again. So, he decided to try his luck in the Middle East.
People like him fall victim to exploitation again when looking for jobs overseas, by the people who have power, connections, and who can get away with any wrongdoing. The victims do not get justice because the legal system is also under the influence of those who have money and power. As TIB said, the allegedly corrupt keep enjoying unabated protection and even get rewarded.
The migrants become the lifeline of Bangladesh's economy while most of them leave their families behind, not to find a better life but to survive with deep resentment for the unjust political and economic institutions back home. However, the institutions want them to play their due role so they can thrive without any constraints.
Given a chance, though, migrants would just look away and would be busy building their lives elsewhere in another part of the world. Those who can afford that do that, but those who have loved ones, languishing in the corrupt system, send money home.
The government's rhetoric about its development works does not change the reality. The growth has catered to the greed of a small segment of the people, living at the top of society. Those in the middle have got a slice of the pie when those at the top used them to their advantage. The rest have acted as spectators in the game.
This has to change. Unfair economic growth is not sustainable without the participation of the larger population. Signs of that have already emerged. The flow of remittance through legal channels has shrunk, foreign direct investments have plummeted, and money laundering has escalated—by those who would like to park up their illegally-earned money somewhere safe and also by those who fear expropriation of their hard-earned money.
All of these are inimical to national growth in a real sense. For that, politics and economics, dominated by politics, have to change. Fair political and legal systems are prerequisites for fair economic institutions that would support everyone to grow within their potential and abilities. Unless and until that happens, the voices of the repressed would only amplify, may get subdued at times by pressure of state machinery, but would flare up again on the path to culmination.
Bishakha Devnath is the business editor of The Financial Express.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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