World Bank asks Bangladesh NGOs to keep off politics

The World Bank said the NGOs in Bangladesh should not be involved in political activities like elections to uphold their achievements made so far, reports UNB.
�Direct involvement in politics is not under the purview of their activities� the focus of their activities should be on social development,� World Bank�s senior economist in Dhaka Hassan Zaman said, releasing a report on governance of NGOs.

The World Bank report titled �The Economics and Governance of NGOs in Bangladesh�, based on a survey on NGOs in 2003, was released at a function at the Bank�s Dhaka office.

Zaman said the NGOs should refrain from direct involvement in political activities like extending direct support to political parties as well as funding and motivating people to cast votes for a particular party or candidates.
He mentioned that few NGOs worked for a particular political party in the last general election in 2001, which later created tensions.

The Bank has, however, no reservation about the NGOs taking part in public awareness programmes like campaign for establishing voting rights, he said.
When his attention was drawn to the World Bank�s observations, Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman after a pre-budget meeting at his ministry on Tuesday agreed with the remarks.

The World Bank economist stressed the need for setting up of an independent anti-corruption commission to ensure more transparency in their activities and accounts.

Replying to a question, he said the micro-credit borrowers would be forced to take loans at 120 percent from �mahajans� (moneylenders) if the NGOs do not provide them with credits.

He added that the interest rates on micro-credit gradually declined to 23-28 percent at present.
According to the World Bank report, there are around 2,000 small to large NGOs in the country active mainly in education, health, sanitation and micro-credit operations.

Most of their works concentrated on micro-credit, covering 16.4 million (1.64 crore) borrowers, it said.

Another report adds: As NGOs Tuesday expressed interest to get involved in reaching budgetary benefits to the poor, Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman said they are more interested in taking away resources instead of making contributions.

The NGOs at a pre-budget meeting with the Finance Minister said they could be involved in reaching budgetary benefits to the poor, particularly the subsidies on oil and agri-inputs, if any.

The meeting, chaired by Saifur Rahman, was held at the ministry�s conference room, seeking suggestions from the NGOs on how they could contribute to solving the crises over petroleum products as well as price situation.
�We have requested the government to involve them in the distribution system of agriculture subsidy, efforts to create small entrepreneurs and reaching direct allocation for the hardcore poor,� ASA executive vice-president Enamul Haque told reporters after the meeting.

One of the participants said the NGOs pointed out at the meeting that the amount of Tk 50 crore allocated in the current budget for the monga-hit areas could not be reached yet. �The NGOs have that high capacity to reach the benefits,� he said.

He said the Finance Minister apprised the meeting that the issue of involving the NGOs in this regard needs to be discussed with others in the government.
�They�re rather interested in taking away resources,� Saifur told the newsmen after the meeting, replying to a question whether the incomes of NGOs would come under the tax-net.

�I agree� with the proposal to impose tax on the incomes of NGOs that come from their operations, but it would have to be decided in consultation with others in the government, he said. �I noted it down.�

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) in their pre-budget consultation demanded of the government to bring the NGOs having commercial activities and get tax-benefits under the tax-net.

In response to another query on World Bank�s observation that NGOs should not be involved in political activities, Saifur said, �I agree�.

Source: The News Today More

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