ED: Holding public officials accountable for their conduct

Are bureaucrats getting more emboldened in their wrong-doing and abuses of power? According to a recent survey, that would seem to be the case.

The survey, which was conducted by Drik News and carried out on a total of 94 journalists across 55 organizations, highlights a dangerous trend: Government officials do not see themselves as public servants but rather, as powerful people who can get away with doing whatever they want, and treat the people of this country with disdain and disrespect.

Unfortunately, such behaviour within the governmental hierarchy is nothing new, but what is troublesome is the fact that we as a country in this regard are headed in the wrong direction -- towards more corruption within public institutions, and a further widening of the imbalance of power that exists between the citizenry and the people who are responsible for taking care of them.

The most recent arrest of Rozina Islam, an award-winning investigative journalist, highlights this troublesome trend: Freedom of expression and the freedom of the press are under threat, with the Digital Security Act being the pinnacle of this journey towards creating a culture of corruption and a system that lacks accountability for its actions.

With hopes of sustainable development and progress and potentially becoming a middle-income nation in the near future, our public officials will be the ones in charge of expediting that process and ensuring that these dreams come true.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, they now stand as the primary obstacles to our progress. This must change -- those abusing their power, while hindering the work that needs to be done without delay, need to be held accountable.