Lack of Accountability in Bangladesh

November 10, 2025 Pathik BD

1. Introduction – The Silent Crisis Behind Every Problem

Accountability is the heartbeat of good governance. It is the principle that ensures power serves people, not personal interests. Without accountability, even the best plans crumble, and corruption quietly becomes the norm.

In Bangladesh, progress has been visible — roads built, schools opened, new industries rising. Yet behind this development lies a silent crisis: a lack of accountability that weakens every institution, policy, and public system.

From unfinished bridges to failed education programs, from police misconduct to misuse of rural transport funds — almost every national challenge can be traced back to the same root cause. When no one is held responsible for failure, failure multiplies.

The absence of accountability is not just a technical issue; it is a moral one. It affects the farmer waiting for fair fertilizer prices, the student sitting in a broken classroom, and the driver navigating unregulated roads.

Pathik — the awareness and modernization initiative — recognizes this gap. It believes that accountability begins not in offices, but in minds. When people know their rights, and when systems are transparent, responsibility naturally follows.

2. What Accountability Really Means

Accountability is more than punishment; it is the continuous act of being answerable — for every decision, every fund, every action.

In a healthy system:

Officials are accountable to citizens.
Citizens are accountable to laws.
Institutions are accountable to ethics.

But in many parts of Bangladesh, these links are broken.
Instead of serving the people, systems often serve themselves. Power circulates in small circles, protected by politics and fear. Reports are written, signatures collected, but consequences vanish in silence.

When rules are selective and responsibilities unclear, corruption becomes culture and negligence becomes routine.

Pathik defines accountability as “the courage to face one’s own reflection” — to question whether one’s actions truly serve the community.

3. The Landscape of Weak Accountability

Across sectors, the pattern is clear: absence of monitoring, weak enforcement, and public silence.

1. Government Institutions

Audit reports are ignored. Public projects lack independent reviews. Decisions are made behind closed doors. Ministries and agencies often operate in isolation, without coordination or transparency.

2. Local Government

In villages and towns, funds flow through multiple layers — union councils, contractors, political groups. Few citizens know where their taxes go. Complaints are dismissed or delayed indefinitely.

3. Transport and Infrastructure

Vehicles run without route permits, roads break within months, and accidents go unpunished. Neither passengers nor drivers know who to hold responsible. The result is chaos disguised as “normal.”

4. Law Enforcement

Public trust suffers when police misconduct is handled internally, without public disclosure. Fear replaces respect, and accountability is replaced by impunity.

5. Education and Health

Teachers absent from classrooms, medicine stolen from clinics, and budgets misused — yet rarely do investigations reach conclusion.

This is not the failure of a few individuals — it is the collapse of a culture where being accountable is optional.

4. Why Accountability Fails – Root Causes

Centralized Power
Too much decision-making authority is concentrated at the top, far from the people affected. Local voices rarely influence policies or outcomes.
Political Protection
Wrongdoers are shielded by political connections. When loyalty matters more than integrity, discipline disappears.
Weak Institutions
Oversight bodies lack independence, funding, or authority. Many audits end up as reports gathering dust.
Bureaucratic Complexity
Layers of approval create confusion. In this fog, responsibility gets lost. Everyone signs, but no one is truly responsible.
Fear and Culture of Silence
Whistleblowers face harassment. Citizens fear reprisal. Media sometimes self-censors under pressure.
Public Ignorance and Apathy
Most citizens don’t know how to demand accountability. Many accept inefficiency as destiny.
Lack of Digital Transparency
Without open data systems, citizens cannot track government spending or project progress. Secrecy breeds abuse.

These causes feed each other, creating a vicious cycle: power without responsibility, and suffering without justice.

5. The Human Cost of Unaccountability

Lack of accountability is not an abstract issue — it destroys real lives every day.

Economic Loss

Public funds are wasted through negligence or fraud. Projects are delayed or redone at twice the cost. Every wasted taka could have built a classroom or repaired a road.

Social Inequality

When the powerful escape scrutiny, the poor lose faith in fairness. Society divides between those who can bend the rules and those who must suffer them.

Erosion of Trust

Citizens stop believing in their institutions. Voting becomes ritual; protest becomes risk. Once trust is lost, progress cannot be sustained.

Moral Decline

Children watch as dishonesty prospers and honesty suffers. The next generation learns that truth is weakness and deceit is skill.

Accountability is the invisible infrastructure of civilization. Without it, even tall buildings and fast roads stand on sand.

6. Stories That Speak Louder Than Reports

In Khulna, a road project was delayed three times. Each time, officials blamed rain, paperwork, or “unforeseen issues.” The real reason — funds were misused, and no one dared to question.

In Sirajganj, flood-relief supplies disappeared before reaching victims. Local leaders promised investigations, but none were completed. Families rebuilt homes with their own savings while officials moved on.

In Dhaka, a bus accident killed several students. Protests erupted demanding safer transport and accountability. For a few days, reforms were promised. But after the headlines faded, the old habits returned.

Each incident echoes the same pattern — tragedy, outrage, silence, repeat.

7. The Ripple Effect – When One Failure Spreads

Lack of accountability doesn’t stay confined to one sector; it spreads like infection.

When transport officials ignore safety checks, accidents increase.
When tax officers overlook fraud, inflation rises.
When teachers go unpunished for absenteeism, education collapses.
When police ignore corruption, justice becomes a privilege.

The cost is cumulative: lost time, lost lives, and a lost sense of fairness.

For Bangladesh to rise sustainably, it must rebuild this missing link — the culture of responsibility.

8. The Pathik Perspective – Accountability Through Awareness

Pathik was founded on a simple belief: order begins with awareness.

Accountability cannot be forced by law alone — it must be built through understanding, transparency, and community participation.

1. Awareness Programs

Pathik conducts awareness campaigns in rural and urban areas, explaining that accountability is everyone’s duty — not just the government’s. When people demand responsibility, systems start to respond.

2. The Pathik Card System

By introducing digital, traceable fare payments in local transport, Pathik creates financial accountability. Every transaction is recorded, preventing overcharging, bribery, or exploitation.

3. Community Monitoring

Local committees under the Pathik framework track service quality, fare discipline, and safety standards. Their reports are publicly displayed — making everyone answerable.

4. Data Transparency

The Pathik database allows local authorities to see where money flows and how transport operates. It transforms invisible problems into visible data.

5. Ethical Training

Pathik organizes training for drivers, local workers, and youth, emphasizing respect, discipline, and honesty. Accountability grows stronger when rooted in character.

Through these efforts, Pathik proves that reform is not abstract — it is practical, human, and achievable.

9. Accountability and the Transport Sector

Nowhere is accountability more urgent than in public transport — the daily lifeline of millions.

Every fare, every route, every life on the road depends on systems working with honesty. Yet, accidents, overcharging, and disorder persist because no one truly answers for them.

Pathik’s modernization model offers a new approach:

Digital tracking of routes and fares eliminates guesswork.
Standardized pricing prevents disputes.
Driver identification and training ensure professionalism.
Community oversight ensures transparency.

In this model, accountability becomes not a punishment but a practice — part of everyday work.

When a passenger taps a Pathik Card, they participate in a transparent system. When a driver logs in, he enters a network that values honesty. When data is shared publicly, corruption loses cover.

This is how small acts of awareness create national integrity.

10. Barriers to Reform – Why Accountability Still Struggles

Despite progress, challenges remain:

Resistance from vested interests: Those benefiting from disorder resist change.
Low digital literacy: Many rural citizens fear technology.
Insufficient legal backing: Existing laws often lack enforcement mechanisms.
Weak civic education: Citizens don’t always know how to demand transparency.
Fear of retaliation: Activists and journalists face threats for exposing wrongdoing.

Pathik addresses these barriers gradually — by teaching courage, building systems, and nurturing cooperation instead of confrontation.

11. The Role of Citizens – Accountability Begins with Us

Accountability is not only a government duty — it’s a civic responsibility.
Every person who pays a fare, votes in an election, or files a complaint is part of the accountability chain.

Pathik encourages people to:

Ask questions when they see irregularities.
Keep records of payments or public services.
Report violations through community channels.
Support ethical leaders and movements.

When citizens stop accepting “this is how things work,” real change begins.

12. Building Systems That Don’t Forget

One of the greatest problems in Bangladesh is short-term memory. Every scandal fades; every promise resets.

To build lasting accountability, systems must remember:

Every project must have measurable outcomes.
Every official must face evaluation.
Every complaint must have a deadline for response.
Every audit must be public.

Technology can help, but ethics must lead. Pathik combines both — digital memory backed by moral responsibility.

13. Awareness and Accountability – Two Sides of the Same Coin

Awareness gives people voice; accountability gives that voice power.
One without the other is incomplete.

Pathik’s awareness model teaches that knowing one’s rights is only the beginning — demanding respect for those rights completes the circle.

When awareness spreads, fear shrinks.
When people understand laws, officials obey them.
When transparency becomes culture, corruption becomes crime again.

Accountability, therefore, is not the end of reform — it is the beginning of civilization.

14. The Pathik Vision – A Transparent Future

Pathik dreams of a Bangladesh where:

Every public project has open data for citizens to track.
Every driver, worker, and official operates under fair digital systems.
Every community monitors its own development with pride.
Every citizen knows that their voice matters.

It’s a vision of ethical modernization — where awareness replaces ignorance and responsibility replaces excuses.

Accountability is not just about catching the guilty — it’s about preventing guilt altogether. It’s about designing systems where honesty is easier than corruption.

Pathik is walking toward that vision — one ride, one community, one reform at a time.

15. Conclusion – The Courage to Be Answerable

Lack of accountability has held Bangladesh back for decades. It has wasted resources, weakened trust, and silenced progress. But this is not destiny — it is a decision waiting to be changed.

To build a just and modern Bangladesh, accountability must become a shared value — not a rare demand.

Pathik’s movement reminds us that transparency is not a luxury; it is a right. Awareness is not a campaign; it is a culture. And accountability is not punishment; it is promise — the promise that every action will serve the people it was meant to serve.

Bangladesh’s true modernization will not be measured by how fast it builds, but by how honestly it grows.

Accountability is the mirror of integrity — and Pathik is holding that mirror high.

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