The International Crisis Group, in a new report, recommended that the interim government expand its cabinet to improve day-to-day governance.

“At present, some advisors work across multiple portfolios and appear to be overwhelmed. In other cases, cabinet members who lack administrative experience would benefit from additional help, in the form of assistants and staff experienced support staff,” the think tank said in a statement. report titled “A new era in Bangladesh? The first hundred days of reform.

The Crisis Group released the report today (November 15) with some recommendations to help address the challenges facing Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, as it strives to bring implemented an ambitious program of political reforms.

The report said the caretaker government should also review the composition of reform commissions and consider new appointments to make them more representative.

Some of the Crisis Group’s other recommendations include: the government should resist public pressure to ban AL; financial institutions should materially assist the Yunus administration; the interim government should order the police not to arrest those named in public complaints without sufficient evidence, as well as a few others.

Thomas Kean, Crisis Group’s senior consultant for Myanmar and Bangladesh, said: “One hundred days after Muhammad Yunus was sworn in to lead Bangladesh’s new interim government, the country finds itself at a crucial turning point. This is an opportunity to improve governance and put in place controls that would prevent the emergence of another autocratic regime. But the scale of the task is monumental.

“In particular, the interim government will need to maintain a certain degree of political consensus with key political actors, including student leaders, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Islamist forces, the military and civil society. Cracks are already appearing in the fragile alliance that propelled Yunus to power, on key issues such as accountability for human rights abuses, constitutional change and electoral reform. To maintain the broad public support it enjoys, the interim government must also improve its management of day-to-day governance.

“If Yunus and his team fail, the country could return to elected governments with few checks on power, or even enter a period of military rule. But if they succeed in leading the reforms, Bangladeshis could benefit for decades,” he added.

The caretaker government and the reform commissions it has created should also engage in genuine dialogue with key political actors – not just allies such as students and the military, but also the BNP and Islamist parties, particularly the Jamaat given its political weight. Reaching consensus on key issues such as constitutional reform or the electoral system will be difficult, and all parties will have to make compromises, the report says.

At the same time, the interim government should quickly announce a clear timetable for the elections. While many are calling for him to stay in power for at least two or three years, 18 months is more realistic given the political pressures he faces, Crisis Group suggests.

Results

To maintain public support for its long-term reform plans, the interim government will need to produce a steady stream of results, Crisis Group said.

It has already managed to record successes in terms of accountability and obtaining financial assistance. He also announced Bangladesh’s accession to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and established a five-member national commission of inquiry to determine the whereabouts of victims of enforced disappearance.

On the international scene, the meeting between Yunus and Joe Biden in September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, during which the American president promised to “continue to support” the “reform program ” of the interim government, gave an important political impetus. , we read in the report.

Dhaka has also taken a more assertive stance towards India, including lodging formal complaints to New Delhi over the killing of Bangladeshis by Indian forces along the border, which is well received by the public.

Yet even with new revelations about the Hasina administration’s corruption and mismanagement emerging daily, the current enthusiasm will only sustain the government so far. The Yunus administration should find other ways to maintain momentum in the coming year as deeper reform plans take shape and the path to new elections is charted, Crisis Group recommends.