The much talked about reform proposal has arrived in BNP. While the proposal calling for joint leadership looks really good in paper, the people who it is coming from are a bit problematic. The proposal came from none other than Abdul Mannan Bhuia, the current sec General of BNP. If you didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t blame you if you had thought that secretary was just appointed in the party. However, this very same person was the secretary for the last 5 years — supposedly the years of massive corruption and family dynasty done under the name of his party. What was his role during that time?

If you recell, Oct 27th, 2006, a group of BNP leaders left the party with exactly the same accusation and formed a new party called LDP. At that time, the very next day their houses were attacked, their cars were torched by the BNP goons. What was Mannan Bhuiya’s role during that time ? He said that if a few people leave BNP, it doesn’t hurt the party. In effect, Bhuiya alligned himself perfectly with the people whom he is calling corrupt today in spite of that open revolt inside the party.

The proposal castigates the people responsible for the debacle of the party and wants Khaleda Zia leadership to take responsibility of the corruption inside the party. Now common sense suggests that both the number 1 and number 2 should equally be held accountable for it.

Now why is it problematic about who the proposal is coming from ?

There is a notion of opportunitism in the whole process. If Abdul Mannan B. becomes the chairperson in the new BNP, this would be awarding opportunism at the cost of accountibility. Bangladesh never had shortage of good laws and guides. The problem was never with the law but the implementation of the law. As Zafar Sobhan briliantly points out that our problem was much deeper than we would like to think. Will it really change anything if we just replace one set of corrupt politician with another new set?

Mannan Bhuiya now is calling that the previous administration was corrupt. But none of us forgot the venom he showed when Transparency International accused his ministry to be one of the most corrupt ones.

Here was the exact quote as was covered in the blog then.

Dismissing the report LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan said, “We rejected the report with hatred…this a politically motivated report to tarnish the images of the government and the country.”

“Actually, they prepared the report to encourage the corruption… they wanted to see the country as a failed state…the people who work in the very organisation actually wanted to make their fortune only”, he added. He said, “We never had confidence on the TIB report.”

Raising question of the authenticity of the TIB report, the Law Minister Moudud Ahmed reiterated that the TIB prepared the report to tarnish the images of the country. “We neither give importance nor recognise the TIB report,” he added.

Echoing the same view, Health Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said, “We don’t know the source of the money by which the organisation is running.”

Out of the three who said that corruption was an imaginary apple by TIB, two are now in jail and one that has the jail free pass is now calling for “reform”. Too bad it isn’t self reformation.
Now the big question is whether Bhuiya Shaheb is still thinking the current CTG also is harming the image of our country. Hail to the reformer-in-chief!

But what would be the outcome of this initiative? As fellow blogger Asif Y aptly puts it:

“At best, this current revolt might just transform it into a REAL party. At worst, it will break it into pieces, not much of a loss. ”