There was no recognition for merit and educated people in the country during the last 10 years, which was the greatest harm done to the nation, according to eminent economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya.
“Only people with loyalty and flattering quality would capture the, state, government, society and professional bodies, he said at a two-day conference of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on Sunday.
“No crimes can be greater than holding a nation from the back,” remarked Dr Debapriya, convener of the platform.
He gave example of the Supreme Court which he said had become such a place where a meritorious judge like current Chief Justice was denied promotion for several times.
“I’ve never seen such a crime in my whole life. Now, you can see how history can fix it Refaat Ahmed has been picked up as the Chief Justice after the July uprising without any hesitation and uncontested,” he added.
Addressing the event as the chief guest, Chief Syed Refaat Ahmed said: “Now, we’re standing on the rubble. The sense of justice and associated values were destroyed, but we did not want such a state.”
As a result of the misrule, dishonesty has replaced integrity, deprivation has replaced rights, oppression has replaced justice, and persecution has replaced refuge – turning these abnormalities into normal phenomena, according to him.
Mentioning that even the judiciary system was not immune to the destruction, he said initiatives are being taken to make it people-oriented.
“Everyone will find a people-oriented and people-centric judiciary by your side in welfare and work,” he noted.
The Chief Justice stressed the need for starting a new journey of the judiciary and reestablishing the destroyed values standing on this pile of rubbles of this destruction.
“At this critical juncture of the country, the judiciary is also not free from its broken state. However, at this stage, I want to assure you in a strong voice without any hesitation that a new journey has already started with some strong steps for institutional reforms to overcome this situation,” he noted.
Quoting Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus, Dr Debapriya said the country now needs at “a working consensus” to bring about a structural change in order to bring on board the people lagging behind.
Stefan Liller, resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bangladesh, stated that achieving SDG-16 and 5 dealing with governance and accountability calls for a transformative shift of the state mechanism to make it inclusive.
Corinne Henchoz Pignani, Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh believes that Bangladesh has to deal with structural weakness to increase voice of people.
She emphasised accountability, continuous dialogue between citizens, strong local government, quality education and innovation.
The opening session speakers also included Lamiya Morshed, Principal Coordinator for SDG Affairs
