How society can benefit most from service providers and regulators has ever remained a confusing subject despite thousands of experiments and millions of pages of socio-political literatures produced. Today, mostly individuals dominate public service bodies in spite of overwhelming emphasis on institutionalising people's collective will in the formative stage or turning points of history of nation-states.
In 1991, after the fall of autocracy and a participatory ballot, Bangladesh witnessed a spree of formulation of legislations for establishing systems, such as introduction of a Westminster-type parliamentary democracy with committee system of the US Congress. In the subsequent decades, national agenda included wealth statement by powerful elected officials, freeing society of corruption, autonomy for radio and television, improving access to justice, transparency and accountability in spending taxpayers' money and checks and balances in functioning of state institutions for maximum public welfare.
The country managed to frame some of the best laws and borrow a few of the most effective models of institutions from the contemporary world. The legal process of making the annual budget, for example, could have been considered the cornerstone of a transparent and accountable system spearheaded by people's representatives.
However, as samples, heads of institutions and regulators responsible for providing healthcare services to common people, prove otherwise, especially during the coronavirus crisis. Residual effects of reported leaks of question papers for medical college entry test years ago can be palpable by now. Relief distribution has hardly been possible without allegations of misappropriation and bribery.
Digital readiness has been exposed in the failure to ensure online class facilities for all students - rural and urban, and of families of all strata. Electricity distributing authorities have produced phantom bills for customers on the plea of the pandemic.
Manifestly, project implementation and procurement for different offices could not be freed from corrupt practices. The financial sector has been plagued by a series of loan scams and also one of the world's largest cyber heists during the past decade.
The country's courts have been burdened with 3.7 million cases in backlogs while millions of people suffer for years due to unresolved cases.
Reports like Global Competitiveness Index show how far the public institutions remain functional in delivering services and ensuring proper regulations to attract investment and promote business for the country.
Comments often made by public officials - be it relating to road accidents, higher education, foreign policy affairs or healthcare services - indicate how efficiently the organisations they lead are serving the people.
Sadly enough, we don't find even a few taking any moral stand to uphold independence of the institution with professional integrity. A former governor of the Bangladesh Bank wrote to this scribe recently: "A basic problem of Bangladesh is that we don't take any action unless some episodes come up. Why after (retied) Major Sinha's murder (in Cox's Bazar recently) have all become so vocal? These 'post facto' talks and writings hardly help prevent corruption."
The nation once did focus much on enactment of laws, rules and regulations and construction of office buildings. The critical role of people in making and keeping any institution functional has not been given due importance.
Laws were formulated and organisations formed in large numbers but governance as the key issue of development and welfare has only been discussed over the years. Also, the media, as the fourth estate, is facing challenges.
The institutions built by or for the people do not or cannot guarantee services to the masses. That is not what French political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville noted: "Local assemblies of the people constitute the strength of free nations. Municipal institutions are to liberty what primary schools are to science: they bring it within the people's reach, and teach them how to use and enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty."
As our old systems can barely offer solution to pending and new problems, we are perhaps standing before a paradigm shift. In such a situation, people need to look back to history and bank on conventional wisdom to try to delineate the future they may look up to.
