Nazrul Islam
The military-backed interim administration has no specific timeline as yet to hand over power to an elected government to be formed after the December 29 parliamentary polls.
‘Handover of power depends on the next elected government’, the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed told New Age on the sidelines of a tea party arranged for newsmen on Wednesday, less than two weeks before the polls.
The chief adviser, who took over a day after the declaration of a state of emergency on the heels of a political turmoil in early January 2007, was optimistic about a credible election to be held in a free and fair atmosphere.
‘My objective is to hand over power after holding free and fair elections’, he said.
The present interim administration headed by Fakhruddin Ahmed was installed following the failure of president Iajuddin Ahmed-led caretaker administration to hold elections within the constitutionally mandated 90-day timeline after the dissolution of the eighth parliament on October 28, 2006.
In line with the constitutional provision, the tenure of the caretaker government was supposed to expire with a new prime minister taking charge after holding of elections to parliament in three months time. But the present interim government has been in office for more than 23 months now and spent much of the time on its unfinished crusade against corruption.
The constitutional provisions also stipulate summoning of parliament within 30 days of the general elections.
When he was asked to give a tentative date for power transfer to an elected government, the chief adviser said that it depended on the wishes of the elected government.
‘We have no intention to make any delay, we will act as per the wishes of the new government’, said the chief adviser who has started meeting with sections of professionals and officials working with his administration for nearly two last years.
An official at the Chief Adviser’s Office referred to the two previous power handover ceremonies, which took place 10 days after 2001 elections and a month after 1996 elections.
When asked whether his government would conduct the January 22, 2009 elections to 481 upazila councils, Fakhruddin said if a new government was installed by that time, the responsibility would automatically lie with them.
About qualitative changes in politics, he observed that the people’s mindset had started changing in many respects, especially in election campaigns this time round. He hoped that the trend would continue in the days to come.
He said he had no preparations for the jobs he had been doing for the last seven years – as a governor of the central bank and managing director of the Palli Karma Sangsthan Foundation and the current position of the chief executive of the country – saying that he made the best use of the opportunities that came his way. About his future plan after the government’s tenure is over, Fakhruddin said he had not made up his mind as yet. The chief adviser, however, will opt for a break before taking up any new assignment.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
