The July Revolution began with the demand to end the unjust quota system. The nation, led by its youth, demanded fairness based on merit. Alas, ignoring this central aspiration for meritocracy, the BNP-led government announced on 23 July the appointment of party apparatchiks — loyal party officials — to head 11 state-owned corporations. Shamelessly, this betrayal occurred in July itself, as the nation was recommitting itself to the spirit of the July Revolution.
In doing so, the BNP also violated its election manifesto, in which it pledged professionalism in state institutions and an end to politicisation. Its 12 February election manifesto said, “The BNP will ensure the effectiveness and accountability of the state administration, police, and other institutions by relying solely on integrity, competence, merit, qualifications, patriotism, and experience, without considering an individual’s beliefs or disbelief, or party loyalty.” This blatant violation came less than six months after the government took office.
True to the proverb, “the morning shows the day,” the government had, within about a week of taking office, unceremoniously removed a highly professional central bank governor to appoint a loyal party man. The appointee has no experience in central banking, nor any higher degree in macroeconomics or related fields such as monetary economics. The government also appointed party loyalists to key state institutions, including the Election Commission and local government bodies.
The appointment of party loyalists to key state institutions is often justified by invoking the so-called “US system,” as opposed to the British meritocratic bureaucracy. This is a complete misnomer and misrepresentation of the US system of governance. There, key senior public service appointments are subject to rigorous Congressional hearings intended to scrutinise a proposed appointee’s professionalism and integrity. In most cases, appointees are professionals with years of experience in relevant fields, although they may be ideologically inclined towards a particular political party — which is perfectly acceptable in a vibrant democracy.
Compare President Obama’s appointment of the highly respected Harvard economics professor Janet Yellen as Chair of the Federal Reserve with the BNP’s choice to head Bangladesh Bank. Even the highly partisan President Trump did not choose a party apparatchik to head the Federal Reserve. Trump’s choice, Kevin Warsh, is a Stanford University economics graduate and former Fed governor. As special assistant to President Bush for economic policy and executive secretary of the National Economic Council, Kevin Warsh managed domestic finance, capital markets and banking issues. Yet he still had to face the powerful Senate Banking Committee, where Republican Senator Thom Tillis grilled him.
If the appointment of party apparatchiks is to be justified by referring to the so-called US system, then why not follow the US system of selecting party candidates for elected positions, including the presidency, through the votes of the party’s rank and file? To some extent, such competition should bring out talent from within the party. You simply cannot cherry-pick.
Perhaps the US, a wealthy nation, can afford inefficiency; but Bangladesh, a least developed country (LDC), cannot. The appointment of party apparatchiks without any relevant experience to head key state institutions dealing with commerce and industry does not sit well with the government’s request to the United Nations to defer the country’s scheduled LDC graduation on the grounds that it needs more time to prepare.
Bangladesh has no alternative but to embrace meritocracy if it wants to emulate the success of East Asian countries such as South Korea, Indonesia or Vietnam — all of which were roughly at the same level of development as Bangladesh in the early 1970s.
What lesson do we learn from South Korea, which was one of the poorest countries in the early 1960s but became a member of the wealthy nations’ club, the OECD, in less than three decades? Are we prepared to learn from Vietnam, which did not join the LDC club in 1975 even when its GDP per capita was approximately US$82, while Bangladesh’s was around US$230?
The July martyrs and fighters understood the critical importance of meritocracy to the country’s development success. This shameless betrayal of the July spirit will see Bangladesh languish in an ever-deepening vicious circle of poverty and inequality, exacerbated by corruption, money laundering and extortion.
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Emeritus Professor Anisuzzaman Chowdhury is a former Special Assistant (for the Ministry of Finance) to the Chief Adviser of the Interim Government led by Professor Yunus. He held senior United Nations positions in Economic and Social Affairs in New York and Bangkok.