ICT Road Map Goes Against National Integrity

The draft ICT Road Map has faced strong criticism soon after its launch with stakeholders alleging that it contains proposals that are contrary to national laws and fabrics of national integrity. The government paper on ICT Road Map carried contradictory proposals like upgrading divisions to federal states, creating imaginary post like chief digital adviser under the chief adviser for implementing the roadmap and undermining our parliament. A naïve person will understand that Bangladesh has a Unitary form of administrative structure. Then a million dollar question is – why make Bangladesh into a federal state?

The answer is simple. The foreign powers have not been able to plunder the natural resources as envisaged by the big companies and their accomplices. The country has resisted unitedly the vested interest of big overseas conglomerates and their local partners. The age old philosophy of Divide and Rule is active again. Once Bangladesh is disintegrated into federal states exploitation will be easier and lead towards dissolution of Bangladesh. The propensity of development is dependent on the economy of size. Once Bangladesh is divided into federal states Bangladesh will lose its economy of size and will create an anarchic situation of far greater proportion than that of the current rebellion by states in Bolivia. The situation in Bolivia is a good scenario to visualize our future if the proposed thrash is adopted as the National ICT Road Map.

Sources in the information and communication technology sector alleged that the draft prepared at a cost of about Taka 250 million was untenable and inadequate, and carried statements undermining the integrity of our countrys parliament. The draft in its proposal states that development of clusters of high-growth ICT companies based around hi-tech parks in each division of Bangladesh by 2013, or federal states, if they are so upgraded by that time. The Project Director along with Ministry of Science & ICT is busy making overseas trips in the name of study tours by irrelevant person. The actual size of the project may not be large but there were enough dough to provide overseas visits for many officials but they hardly gain anything which may contribute to the development of the ICT in government or industry. These overseas jaunts are to keep all concerned obliged. With no requirements for measurable outputs out of this project, there are no concerns or responsibilities for the government tourists or for the project itself. This is possibly the only project funded by the World Bank that escapes all scrutiny and is a continuous Christmas for the companies engaged and the project director who spreads the happiness.

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and the government should immediately start an enquiry on the activities of the Project Director and the Ministry of Science & ICT.

The Chief Guest Dr C.S. Karim, Adviser to Government of Bangladesh, at a Seminar on IT Road Map held recently at Dhaka stated in no uncertain terms that any such plan has to fit within the existing framework of the Government. The structure of the Government with a Ministry and the statutory bodies there under should be sufficient for implementation of the plans for IT sector. The requirement of novel bodies inconsistent with the government structure is not possible. Prescribing standalone institutions for the ICT sector like a separate financial body was also not acceptable. A Road Map with such requirements was “not good enough” he said. Dr C.S. Karim said Bangladesh has to be particularly careful with its resources as it does not have the luxury of doing things twice. Hence there cannot be any mistakes in formulating the Road Map.

During the Open Discussion A K M Shamsuddoha of Dohatec requested that the directives given by the Chief Guest be duly recorded and considered by those responsible from the government for the Road Map. He stated that the Road Map failed to take into account the strength and power of the achievements of the IT Sector. The vast Banking Sector, the Stock markets, the Utility Billing, Education Boards were all automated. The Voter Registration and National ID Project enrolling 78 million voters in a year under most arduous conditions carried out by the Bangladesh Army was a globally significant achievement in the IT sector. Many overseas governments are interested in the system. The Publics Procurement Monitoring System of Bangladesh Government was shown to an audience of 400 drawn from around the world at the World Bank HQ in Washington DC. The value of procurement reform projects around the world ran into hundreds of millions with huge prospects for Bangladesh. The digitization of Bangladesh Government Forms took Bangladesh from 131 to 80 in the Brown University ratings on e-governance. The Finance Ministry was extensively computerized.

The proposed Road Map failed to give any projections on where Technology was going and how Bangladesh should prepare itself to develop the country and secure a rightful share in the global marketplace. It drew a complete blank in the technology space. It also failed to take into account how IT contributed to the economy. The Road Map was a poor sifting through of a host of recommendations existing in different forums and prescribing of a new delivery structures. According to Doha it was a “Road Map to Nowhere”. This formulation may be good enough for some other country but it was certainly not good enough for Bangladesh.

All speakers from the floor there after expressed their own experiences and endorsed the views of the Chief Guest and Doha. Parvez of an NGO pointed out that the assumptions made by the authors were not enunciated. Khairuzzaman, CTO, of Dhaka Stock Exchange felt that the Road Map did not address key technical issues and he suggested that special emphasis should be placed on Security. He also pointed to the high standard of ICT and professionalism in the financial markets practiced in Bangladesh and drew attention to strength of the Private Sector in this area.

In conclusion the embarrassed S M Wahiduzzaman, Secretary, Ministry of Science and ICT who chaired the National Seminar assured that the recommendations would be incorporated and the Road Map would involve all stakeholders in its formulation. The remark is inadequate and person involved in sowing seed of national disintegration must be punished and overseas pleasure trips must be investigated