Publication: Bangladesh - Curbing Corruption and Strengthening Governance : A Note on Strengthening Anticorruption Initiatives
Date
2007-02
ISSN
Published
2007-02
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
There is a growing consensus among
development practitioners about the importance of governance
to poverty reduction and economic growth, although there
remains disagreement about the direction of causality. Poor
governance manifests itself in increased corruption, poor
service delivery, weak accountability and a crisis in
citizens' confidence in the state. In Bangladesh, the
governance challenges are interconnected and span a wide
range of issues: weak public financial management, low
revenue mobilization, an inefficient and weak procurement
system, inadequate electoral laws including unregulated
election financing that limits and distorts political
competition, weak formal accountability systems including a
dysfunctional Parliament and Judiciary, a lack of
transparency in government decision making, and the
permeation of partisan politics through all public
institutions. A concerted effort to tackle these problems
will require reforming formal institutions, laws, and
processes but also developing strong mechanisms for
accountability through civil society and the media, and
sustaining the national consensus that has emerged that
reforms must be implemented. The new Caretaker Government
(CTG) has started this process in earnest and is to be
commended for initiating actions in rebuilding core public
institutions including the Anticorruption Commission (ACC).
A multi-faceted approach is required to overcome
Bangladesh's weaknesses and failures in governance, one
which this note does not address in detail. The focus of
this note is on strengthening anticorruption initiatives.
Citation
“World Bank. 2007. Bangladesh - Curbing Corruption and Strengthening Governance :
A Note on Strengthening Anticorruption Initiatives. © Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/6008ec3a-2f3b-54a9-8924-59864e99e7dc License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”