Good Governance: Role of Individuals Vs. Institutions

By-Prof. Syed Ahsanul Alam, Chairman-CGG

Website: www.goodgovernancebd.org

                                     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/post?postID=vg9jMapnvWg00B7JCvTWodPiINpQRqsvwt6gNE7AVYC1i1DCsNPEruRQagT2hFFsY-V3kUFjoNA2b4_gq3TcXjmXtWMXDTHAf2Od, Fax: 880-31-2550872

 

In the recent years, Bangladesh made some progress in many areas of economic and social development such as maintaining macroeconomic stability, growth in exports and in remittances, increase in enrolment in primary education, improvements in female's education, reductions in infant and maternal mortality and improvement in women's empowerment. Yet there are growing concerns that Bangladesh's development prospects are frustrated by bad governance. One does not need to go in the nitty gritty to understand how bad governance affected the economy.  Experts tell us that two percent or more of the GDP is lost to corruption and bad governance. Bad governance results to huge loss in economic growth annually. Bad governance and corruption deter investment, waste national resources and disequate allocation and increase insecurity. Moreover, the poor suffer most from the consequences of bad governance and corruption. Amongst the major governance weakness: pervasive corruption, weak governance, absence of monitoring institutions seriously affects economic growth and poverty reduction in the country. Though the methodology used by Transparency International (TI) to measure corruption has been subject to many questions, yet holding the first position in Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 5 consecutive years has tarnished the image of Bangladesh.

A. Good Governance: Rule of Law not rule of men or women

Good governance is an extension of the principle of the rule of law. Any society is well-governed when there is a rule of law, not a rule of men or woman. A modern state is extensively governed by rules, regulations and laws, by complex guidelines and instructions,   restrictive, prohibitive and penal procedures. Good governance can become myth for the people when the public representatives, bureaucrats and judiciary put rules and regulations aside and start ruling by using political office for personal gains. It has often been seen in history that an elected government may not be democratic but autocratic in practice imposing dictatorship of the head of the government. This can happen even in the parliamentary form of governments.   It is ironical that, the democratic world is satisfied if the adults of a country can cast their votes at a periodic interval in a festive mood. But little do they bother whether these festive periodic exercises called election (made in Bangladesh) puts the voter in a helpless coercive situation to choose muscleman or criminals nominated by party A or party   B as their representative only to endorse a rule of terrors or criminals.

The basic problem of maintaining rule of law in Bangladesh is the belief of a powerful group of politicians, bureaucrats, elites, business personalities and other persons from other professions, that although all human beings are created equal, they are more than the created equals. Law and judicial systems exist for those who are less equal than them, allowing them to float above the law and the arms of the court are not long enough to reach them. This irony in the day to day affairs of Bangladesh is the breeding ground of corruption, mis-governance and mis-fortune. The search for a policy and system to combat corruption is essentially a search for a leveler, except death which will cut the size of those more-than-equals to their proper size and dimension. If corruption is to be combated, it would have to be addressed both by way of a change of mind set and a change of consequences.

B. Good Governance: People Centric Governance

The broad concept of good governance is the process of governing with maximum participation of the people. Good Governance refers to the broad set of actions that a government undertakes to ensure people centric socio-politico- economic mechanisms to function effectively.  Good governance, then, arises from actions of a government which is honest, transparent, accountable, efficient, and institutionally sound.  Establishing good governance in Bangladesh requires reforms of the political System, electoral system, state machinery – and institutions to monitor the governance. 

Weakness in governance is most visible by rampant corruption in economic and business arena in Bangladesh .  To tackle corruption, we cannot just focus on the demand side of corrupt payments; we must also combat the supply side. The government, public sector, private sector, ministers, parliament members as well as individuals were all pre dominantly involved in corrupt practices in Bangladesh.  To combat corruption, we must focus on most of the infected organs of the state. 

C. Good Governance: Conceptual Framework

A number of multilateral organizations (e.g. UNDP, World Bank, OECD) and bilateral organizations have emphasized on the elements of good governance and its impact on development. Multilateral organizations generally equate good governance with sound economic management based on (i) Accountability; (ii) Participation; (iii) Predictability and (iv) Transparency.

The concept of good governance has been clarified by the UN's Commission on Human Rights and identified the key attributes of good governance as:
1.Transparency 2.Responsibility 3.Accountability 4.Participation 5.Responsiveness
However, there are some bilateral donors who are not satisfied with this narrow economic definition of good governance. They would like at least Five more elements to be included as an essential part of good governance, namely (i) Democratization; (ii) Human Rights; (iii) Rule of Law; (iv)Cuts in Military Expenditure and (v) Probity.

HUMAN DIGNITY AND HUMILIATION STUDIES ( www.humiliationstudies.org/intervention/decency.php ) stated that:     Syed Ahsanul Alam, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Chittagong   in his article "Road Map To Good Governance - The Nine 'I' Model" explains that "Democracy cannot flourish in the absence of good governance."
He explains: "The pre-condition for good governance is effective democratic institutions for democratizing the society. Improvement of the living standard of people cannot happen where people cannot participate in governance, human rights are not respected, information does not flow, and civil society and the judiciary are weak. According to him Nine criteria of good governance may be used to determine whether any country qualifies to have good governance are:

1. INDEPENDENT AND NON PARTISAN ELECTION COMMISSION
2. INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY AND THE RULE OF LAW
3. INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH
4. INDEPENDENT ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION
5. INDEPENDENT AND EFFECTIVE PARLIAMENT
6. INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
7. INDEPENDENT OMBUDSMAN SYSTEM
8. INVESTING IN THE PEOPLE

9. INVESTMENT FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT."

[Source:   http:// www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidDate=2007-02-11&hidType=EDT

http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_33979.shtml           

http://www.weeklyholiday.net/2007/230307/mis.html                                                                      

http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com/2007/02/road-map-to-good-governance-in.html   ]

 

During the previous regimes Good governance in Bangladesh was far from the actual consonance of the term. There are several factors and issues that are constraining the very process of good governance. The major factors are i) corruption, ii) politicization of administration, iii) weak democratic institutions, iv) autocratic parliament, v) absence of the rule of law and vi) absence of meritocracy etc.

 

The ESCAP of the United Nations has emphasized for good governance, the participatory nature of the government and the rule of law. According to this definition, good governance has 8 major characteristics -"It is i) participatory, ii) consensus oriented accountable, iii) transparent, iv) responsive, v) effective, vi) efficient, vii) equitable and viii) inclusive and follows the rule of law."
By the rule of law ESCAP means fair legal frameworks and impartial enforcement of laws by an independent judiciary and incorruptible police force.

D. Good Governance: Role of Individual Stakeholders

Everyday policy makers, professionals, business leaders, sociologist, economists and others independently generate amazing number of ideas and thoughts. The reasons that these ideas don't come to fruition is because like-minded reformers do seldom collaborate to bring changes.  There are a lot of international and domestic organizations, NGOs, government agencies, opinion leaders and others – that are all individually working on tackling corruption in a piece-meal fashion.  A more comprehensive approach to address governance will be more fruitful.  Corruption can be marginalized if not eliminated if all stakeholders work together in a coordinated manner against corruption. 

Ideas and thoughts are ineffective if not put to actions. Unless what is thought is acted upon, such thought has no value.  What is important is the commitment of all the citizens – leaders of respective fields– to take on the challenge of replacing bad governance with that of good governance and to do one's own part to address it in a collaborative manner.  Corruption, as in all affairs in society may be viewed from the two sides: a demand side and a supply side.  The demand side can only be curbed by reforms of institutions, strengthened enforcement of law by a transparent judiciary.  As the owner of the country all citizens are affected by bad governance everyday, and as such they should insist reforms of the legislative, executive and judicial organ of the country. The stake holders of good governance should get united to raise voice against corruption to curve the supply side. Thus the citizens will have to participate in the crusades against corruption and only moral support to the Anti Corruption Commission ( ACC) is not enough to eliminate corruption.

E. Good Governance: Role of Civil Society

Citizens face potential corruption practically at every level and every sector of life. It could be the local police, T.N.T, electricity and water authority, municipal corporation or the tax department. Government alone cannot succeed in combating corruption without the active participation of civil society and citizen action groups. Civil society is in the best position to articulate the grievances of the citizen and highlight priorities of action on corruption to governments. Civil society can serve many important roles–as observer, critic, analyst, campaigner, or protestor. It can create public awareness against corruption and mobilize citizens to fight against corruption in ways that governments cannot. Civil society can also play a strong role to organize campaigns against corruption.

Civil society organizations, Citizens' action groups, NGOs, media, and Chambers–can play the largest role in improving governance both in the public and private sector.  Chambers can be more active by organizing seminars, workshops, round tables to generate awareness against corruption and unethical business practice. Chambers can establish anti corruption cell headed by a vice president with adequate funds to establish liaison with media, anti corruption commission (ACC) and other government agencies to combat corruption and protect its members from extortion and corrupt claims. Mega chambers should formulate code of conduct for their members and put pressure on the members for compliance.  Awareness regarding code of conduct for members of chambers would have trickle down effect on smaller business enterprises and so on. 

NGOs can keep a pivotal role in raising awareness among the general public about the bad effect of bad governance. Most of our citizens understand that they are victims of corruption at their own level and corrupt governance affects their pocket. NGOs and other social organizations can make coordinated efforts to spread the message that corrupt governance at every level affects the economic development, impair equitable distribution of wealth, destroys social justice and degrades moral of the society. Corruption degrades the dignity of any nation.  Researchers and academicians presented reports on how corruption destroyed the foundation of our economy.  Mass campaign against corruption should be launched to develop public resistance against corruption and to provoke public support in favor of crusade against corruption by the Anti corruption commission (ACC). ACC should be proactive in setting the agenda and framework through which to engage civil society in the battle against corruption.

F. Good Governance: Role of Private Sector

The private sector can play a more active role in rooting out the supply side of corruption.  It is painful that most businessman and citizens looks at corrupt practice as a system.  According to unofficial estimates many business house just account for it on their books – as much as 10% – adding to the cost of doing business.  Business leaders as well as the government should take initiatives so that local and foreign investors can set up business enterprise and function in Bangladesh without resorting to corruption and extortion.  After 1/11/07 the present Anti corruption commission (ACC) visibly started a crusade against corruption which may be looked upon as a proactive move towards investment friendly governance.

Towards good governance the private sector must emphasize on internal controls and auditing mechanisms.  Corporate bodies and business houses needs to set clear and enforceable policies against corrupt or unethical business practices.  Business house need to periodically train middle and senior management on business ethics to ensure that standards are institutionalized throughout the organization.  Business houses should change their mind-set to prefer managers having comprehensive business education with emphasis on ethics.  Bangladeshi business managers can not afford to be unaware of global ethical standards for doing business.

G. Good Governance: Role of Institutions

For good governance, existing institutions need to be strengthened by laws and regulations. New regulatory institutions need to be created to address gaps in monitoring governance. Stopping political appointments in institutions like the i) Anti-Corruption Commission, ii) Human Rights Commissions, iii) Law commission, iv) Media and Press Commission, v) Ombudsman system can be a good start towards ensuring good governance.  But without transparent process and expertise in law-enforcement, such commissions or agencies will remain ineffective. Another area that is easily noticeable is lack of monitoring on government spending.  Ministries spend allocated funds as they see fit on political considerations rather than their economic impact. Thus the modality of investing in people goes against the interest of the mass people. Further ridiculous and deceptive is the financial reporting system. Any reporting done is often years late.  An effective institution should be formulated to monitor government spending which could go a long way towards curbing irresponsible government spending on political or corrupt motives. In this regard separating the accounting function from the auditing system is now only a demand of time.

Every citizen is happy to see that the present caretaker government took steps towards independent judiciary, independent human rights commission and independent election commission. Furthermore, some institutions are taking steps to improve effectiveness and efficiency within their authority. It is also expected the present government will initiate reforms that will give greater results and fulfill aspiration of the people-the real owner of the country.  It is ironical to note that yet there are no effective institutions with adequate legal authority to curb unethical business practices or to protect consumer rights. 

Strong laws and regulations and timely enforcement system are needed to make sure that the investors understand the modality for operating in Bangladesh.  Clearly defined laws, rules and regulations will help regain investor's confidence to bring big investment in Bangladesh .  Unexpected arbitrary changes to legal procedures without adequate notice or public opinion, created perceptions that the political regimes catered to vested interests or syndicates.

i. Good Governance: Role of Parliament:

Legislature is a fundamental component of good governance, which serves as a demonstration of pluralism, tolerance of diversity and dissent as well as a place for compromise and consensus building. The health of democracy of any nation is largely dependant on a strong and functional legislature. A government with a legislature lacking the capacity to effectively oversee the executive or influence policy cannot be deemed to be democratic or delivering good governance. The role and task of the parliament is to make laws and monitor the executive. They hold the executive organ of the government accountable through committee hearings, intervention on important national issues and making appropriate laws to sustain good governance.

The formal government is only one of the actors in good governance. Under any parliamentary system of government the parliament is another key actor for ensuring good governance.
But when the speaker becomes partisan, when Parliament Members looses their membership if they vote against anti people bills presented in the parliament by their party due to the black law like Article 70 of the constitution, presenting bill in the parliament becomes a farcical exercise. When ministers do not remain accountable even to the MPs, the parliament becomes autocratic establishing parliamentary autocracy and Prime Ministerial dictatorship frustrating the spirit of people centric accountable government.

Further when the elected opposition in the Parliament abstains from taking part in the proceedings of the Parliament, the Parliament becomes ineffective as a constitutional arrangement of scrutinizing government's activities.
The idea that the opposition can topple a government without election is most unhelpful for democracy and democratic good governance.

ii. Good Governance: Role of Judiciary

Another characteristic of good governance is the presence of constitutional jurisdiction on the political power. Such limits include transparent, creditable and periodic elections, guarantees of Fundamental Rights, guarantees of Human Rights by an independent judiciary, which allows citizens to seek protection of their rights and redress against government actions. These limit help make government departments accountable to each other and to the people.

The last remaining bastion of the rule of law, the judiciary was not separated from the executive organ by all previous governments. The lower judiciary has degenerated into a politicized instrument of any ruling party. The upper judiciary is now being exposed to a process of creeping politicization, where judicial appointments, even at the highest level, are now made with an eye on who will be more serviceable as the head of the Caretaker Government.

Like in the United States and many other countries we must also have an effective disciplinary authority over the misconduct of the judges both in the lower judiciary and the Supreme Court. It is important that the judges should devise their own disciplinary framework. The allegation of rampant corruption in the lower judiciary is very disturbing and yet we do not find the judges themselves doing anything to redress the grievance.
The citizen wants independence of the judiciary not to make the judges indulge in corruption with impunity. Corruption in the judiciary makes mockery of the whole justice system so much needed for good governance.

In a participatory democracy it is essential that citizens have faith in their public institutions. A judiciary that is seen as fair and independent is a vital component in sustaining people's trust and confidence in the judiciary. It is through judiciary that people truly experience the working of a democracy and good governance.  

Another point to note is when a corruption scandal breaks open because of the media or a government investigation, many agencies comes forward to handle it. An independent and transparent judicial system can expeditiously bring offenders to justice regardless of their position in politics or business.  Now a day in many countries court document of many cases are available online through the court and are posted for public consumption on major media websites.  This sort of public flogging may create fear among people in high settings regarding corruption.  No denying the fact, government, private sector, and citizens – especially the media – can eradicate corruption by playing a collaborative role.

iii. Good Governance: Role of Bureaucracy

While politicization of the bureaucracy disgustingly damaged the entire administration, another new dimension is that the senior bureaucrats themselves are now inclined to get political colour to get short and long-term benefit package. While the short-term benefit package includes good and profitable postings, rapid promotions, extension of services, etc, the long-term benefit package

of course revolves around such aspirations as induction in the party politics leading to influential positions in the cabinet or office of profits. There is no doubt that such self seeking stance on the part of the senior bureaucrats tells upon their accountability to the people. As a result, virtually all public services as well as law enforcement have become partisanized and commoditized to a point where the machinery of government has lost virtually all capacity for functioning as an instrument of public service.

iv. Good Governance: Role of Media

Bangladesh does have a very active media.  The recent growth in the number of private electronic and print media outlets has increased not just the amount of information available but also its quality.  Media should take a more aggressive role in investigating and exposing large scale and high profile corruption.  Naming and shaming can be a very effective tactic to eradicate corruption in our country. Even in developing countries, where corruption is accepted as a necessary evil, naming and shaming tactic has been effective in recent years.  In India, high profile cases uncovered and actively reported by the media have led to disgraceful dismissals of high level government officials and even criminal action against political leaders. No such example has been set by the political governments in Bangladesh in the past.  But the media demonstrated ability to generate outrage among the public that can be channeled productively to control and eradicate corruption. Nobody can undermine the role and power of media in the society for establishing good governance.

However with its powerful role, even the media may get corrupted or come under undue influence.  Editors and reporters must be vigilant so that corrupt and unethical journalistic practices do not undermine the power of the media.  Media groups, just like professional bodies, need to set journalistic ethical standards and train their reporters adequately to ensure that they are not easily influenced by corruption. Bangladesh needs modern laws towards ethical journalism to ensure accurate reporting without undue influence or intimidation.  Law need to ensure that the media acts responsibly in investigations to avoid slandering business or political leaders without adequate information or with evil motives.  Also laws should be enacted to protect the media from law suits and injunctive actions from business houses and politicians who use the courts to muzzle the press.  Bangladeshi media has a good reputation that needs to be fiercely protected and improved upon through training of   unbiased reporting.  Once the media can prove to be unbiased, it gains the ability to champion apolitical, social causes that can benefit the society at large. And in this regard establishing an independent media and press commission with broad based representation from all walks of life has become a burning issue.

v. Good Governance: Role of Educational Institutions

Teachers, trainers, professionals, educators have big responsibilities to raise voice for good governance.  Teachers can implant hatred against corruptions among the students at an early age.  Intermediate and secondary education can inform young minds about the importance of good governance as precondition for development. Education on critical issues like women empowerment, human rights, consumer rights, right to information, freedom of speech etc can help empower a new generation who will come forward to initiate positive reforms towards good governance.

In Bangladesh any one will be shocked to see the growing number of private universities. This is a proof to the growing demand of education. The highest demand for education has been in the Business, Law and IT schools. Students are flocking to them because they see the tremendous potential of business education and IT education in a global context.  Business schools need to ensure that their students have a comprehensive business education that emphasizes business ethics and law related to the internet. Such is the case for IT education which also needs ethical and legal knowledge regarding internet related crimes. Students taking IT and computer related courses   as well as BBA, MBA, MBM students need to be educated on global standards with comprehensive knowledge of social responsibility of business, business ethics, business law in order to be competitive in a global marketplace.  It should be mandatory that every curriculum includes at least one course on ethics and international business law. Improvement in the quality of business education will improve entrepreneurial development and business vision of executives and entrepreneurs of Bangladesh.

vi. Good Governance: Role of Anti Corruption Commission

Good governance also means combating corruption, and countries can not be considered having good governance, if they are corrupt. To preserve the integrity of democracy, governments must strive to rid themselves of corruptions and bribery. Corruption destroys economic foundations, impedes the ability of developing countries to attract foreign investment. Corruption hinders the growth of democratic institutions, and concentrates power in the hands of a few having money and muscle. The best way to combat corruption is for governments to be open and transparent. Official Secrecy Act must not be abused. While in certain cases governments have a responsibility to retain secrecy and confidentiality regarding national security and similar issues. Strong laws against corruption and application of such laws and the actions of law enforcement agencies that work against corruption demonstrate a government's commitment for the principle of good governance.

The general lack of political will to fight corruption during the previous governments are evident from the fact that after more than 35 years of independence only now the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is being set up. It is a bold step on the part of the present government. Unhindered corruption has the vicious effect of eroding from within all the efforts at building the democratic institutions of good governance. The people aspiration is that the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will prove to be sufficiently independent and bold to punish corruption in high places of the government. Corruption must be uprooted to help the institutions of good governance function in the way these are intended to. Because where good governance fails democracy does not also survive and where democracy is absent politicians do not rule.

vii. Good Governance: Role of Election Commission :

Independent and Non Partisan Election Commission is a precondition for free & fair participative elections to elect public representative to the parliament. Elections, however, are not the only cornerstone to democracy. Accountable leadership and fulfillment of the will of the people are essential to ensuring that elections are a means to a democratic society, not an end in themselves. It is critical that a nation's elections be free and fair in level play ground. This means that every citizen has an equal access and opportunity to compete to become public representative. Voters must have a choice among candidates and that they have a right to information concerning those candidates. Independent election commission must ensure that voters are not put in a coercive helpless situation to choose muscleman or criminals nominated by party A or party   B as their representative to the parliament to establish rule of terrors or criminals. The election commission must ensure the options for voters to reject if criminals are given nominations by casting "No" votes.

 

viii. Good Governance: Role of Public Service Commission :

The Public services in Bangladesh are services provided by the government to the community and include administration, police, health, education, taxation, forestry, electricity, foreign service, amongst others. The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh has provisions for setting up one or more Public Service Commissions (Article 137). The Commission consists of 11 members including a Chairman. All of them are appointed by the President (Article 138). Provisions should be made so that the President of the Republic can make such appointments judiciously and piously without any interference of a political Prime Minister. If politicization of the PSC can be stopped Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) could play a vital role in recruitment, promotion, discipline, posting and transfer of government servants. This constitutional body is supposed to ensures that decisions relating to the public services sector are made in line with equity and merit.

For the first time in the history of the Public Service Commission, allegations such as document-tampering, question-paper leakage etc were raised. The integrity of the Public Service Commission has been further compromised by the politicization of its senior appointments. While the incidences of corrupt practices are proliferating beyond imagination, the law-enforcing agencies are almost helpless before the political pressure group.

Conclusion

In a developing country for good governance the fight against corruption is not easy. Bangladesh after 1/11/07 has experienced a big leap towards fighting corruption. It is expected the present caretaker government, patriot citizens and other stakeholders will be able to address the most difficult challenge – fighting corruption. Corruption is a tremendous deterrent to good governance and development, and its burden falls heaviest on the shoulders of the poor people. An effective Anti-Corruption Commission – with strong political backing, can become a credible tool to deter corruption. All concerned should help the ACC to be fully operative. If Bangladesh wants to become a country free of poverty and economically strong, where every citizen will enjoy his or her rights and a better quality life, fighting corruption is the most important need. It is the responsibility of every stakeholder to respond to this need towards corruption free, transparent, participatory good governance ensuring equity and social justice.

In Bangladesh , it is evident that the present condition of governance is not satisfactory. Many issues and problems are the barriers to ensure good governance , equity and social justice . Corruption, political interference in administration, nepotism, misuse of power, absence of rule of law, non-accountable and non-transparent government etc. are the common features of our governance. Although a lot of measures may be taken for ensuring good governance, it is high time to make our autocratic parliament a democratic one. And re-engineer the role of the dictatorial Prime Minister to a democratic one. In the interest of good governance, time has come for us to think about amending the black law(Article 70 of the constitution) to curve its abuse and free the public representatives to voice peoples aspiration in the parliament. Public opinion should be mobilized to discourage boycotting of Parliament and make the Parliament fully functional and democratic by making the speaker system a non-partisan institution.
It is also necessary to make the ministers accountable to the parliament members while discharging their executive roles to make the parliament truly democratic. Re-engineering is also required to make the MPs the key actors of the parliament instead of the ministers by making the parliamentary standing committees more powerful, effective and functional. All the standing committees of the parliament must be formed and made fully functional by the third session of any elected parliament. To ensure increased accountability and set the culture of resignation due to failure or inefficiency of ministers, legal provisions should be made so that cabinet ministers has to render resignation if no confidence motion is moved by one third members of the parliaments of which one third must be from the ruling party. It is required to make the parliament effective and functional and center of all debates. On the other hand, the opposition, civil society and social groups and organizations also have the moral obligations to help and co-operate the government in establishing good governance. But after 1/11/07 discussions are tabled that constitutional amendments are necessary to bring checks and balance of powers between the President, Prime minister and Speaker of the country. To make the parliament democratic, functional, effective measures should be taken to make the speaker panel a institution above partisan standing. Further brain storming is required whether a national security council can play a even positive role in maintaining balance of power as it is said - Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

Author Syed Ahsanul Alam is an Associate Professor of marketing at the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, & Chairman, Center for Good Governance. His recent administrative post includes Vice Rector IIBT ( Premier University ), Director, Sadharan Bima Corp Treasurer USTC (SWC),., Representative of the President, USTC. He lectured widely at various business schools including University of Science & Technology, Open University, ABAC Thailand and also in Singapore. Rotarian Syed Ahsanul Alam is a well known academician, institution building personality and an activist for Good Governance. The Author may be reached at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/post?postID=t631Ct2eONbJTkyNODt40e9QgYTNLvH7x6eTgotpKeGYVIwk7goZjcgLLmZeX11DvmgMJIobznU5JpLjL9Px4O3ML5mxI9gIFqt9, Fax: 880-31-2550872

Center for Good Governance Website: www.goodgovernancebd.org