The country's interest matters more than that of an individual, former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan said yesterday.

He was talking about the reported 'leave' of Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman.

“A person does not matter more than the country,” Khan said.

An individual should not be a barrier in construction of the Padma bridge as it is necessary for Bangladesh, he said.

Khan spoke to a group of reporters after a regular meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka.

The government must convince the World Bank to release the Padma bridge fund for the sake of the nation, Khan said.

“The government's efforts to get the Padma bridge fund from the WB are in right direction."

“But the government should also notice whether those measures are adequate for getting the loan,” Khan said.

Earlier in June, the WB cancelled its $1.2 billion loan deal citing "corruption conspiracy" in the Padma Bridge project and set three conditions for revival of the loan deal.

Khan said the 'corruption conspiracy' allegation raised by the WB was right because 'conspiracy' is an offence according to Bangladesh's laws.

The WB has cancelled loan agreements not only with Bangladesh, but also with other countries like India, on the ground of corruption, he said.

Speaking on development and governance, Khan identified four major reasons for corruption.

The four reasons are failure of incentives within the government machinery, over-centralisation of government which encourages the delayed decision, discontinuation of policies and, finally, under-reformed judicial system.

“There are some organisations, which you cannot reform through training. You have to write off those organisations,” the economist said without naming such corrupt organisations.

Given the current political situation, people are very angry and this is the final stage of political development. “I am saying this because people are asking about the third option in the political development.”

In spite of such a bad situation of governance, the country is developing economically which he cited as a puzzle. He also said at the low level of development, governance is not as important as when it goes to mid level.

Khan credited four specific reasons including encouragement of garment sector, inflow of remittance, encouragement to the private sector entrepreneurs and building up rural infrastructure for economic development.

Aftab ul Islam, AmCham president, said people are fed up with the current governance and the incidents of hiding, fear, threat and suspension are regularly taking place in the country.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/19-Sep-12