The local government ministry’s treatment of Gazipur city corporation’s elected mayor, MA Mannan, is despicable. He was wrongfully expelled from office for the third time on Thursday. However, based on his writ petition, the court on Sunday suspended the expulsion order for three months.
The people of Gazipur elected MA Mannan as their mayor in 2013 with a wide margin of votes. He secured around 125,000 more votes than his nearest contender. Yet this mayor could only carry out his duties for 18 months and 19 days, spending 22 months in prison. A total of 29 cases were filed against him and he was removed from office three times. The bottom line is that he a leader of the opposition BNP and was nominated by BNP in the mayoral election.
The local government has accused him of corruption and several other misdemeanours. However, the court dismissed those charges and he was twice reinstated by court order. So it is obvious that he has been repeatedly fired simply on political grounds. This has become all the more clear with the Awami League-backed elected ward commissioners of Gazipur boycotting him outright and the speedy manner in which the Awami League-backed ward commissioner Asadur Rahman was made acting mayor.
Gazipur is not the only instance where narrow political interests are rendering this important local government institution ineffective. This treatment has been meted out to the elected mayors of Khulna, Rajshahi and Sylhet who are also of the BNP camp. Interestingly, these mayors have all been reinstated by the court, proving explicitly that their removal was entirely politically motivated.
The residents of Gazipur have been deprived the most by these manipulations. Hardly any development has taken place there in these last four years. The repeatedly dismissal of their elected mayor is a blatant display of disregard towards their votes.
This must halt. The commitment to strengthening the local government system must not be forgotten and the opposite must be avoided. It is imperative to respect the votes of the people. Rather than putting up obstructions, cooperation should be extended to the elected representatives of the people.