How to Make Bangladesh the Golden Bangladesh it is supposed be?

Bangladesh once described as Bottom Less Basket by Henry Kissinger. It had emerged as the newest nation on Earth after the Victory against the Occupying forces of Pakistan. The war of Independence had taken its toll. The infrastructure was in shambles due to Indian Air forces bombing of the port city of Chittagong. The Railways were down because of inept employees and the bridges bombed by the Freedom Fighters.
Today some 40 years later there is a lot of economic activity and this is firstly due to the non-skilled migrant workers sending whatever amount of money from different countries. Most of these are employed in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia being the first approximately 1.5 million are employed then there is UAE and so on and so forth. It is estimated that some 8 million people of Bangladeshi origin are helping send approximately 11 billion U.S dollars to the country but the economy still does not reflect the combined effects of the two sources combined together is not yet stabilizing the economy.
Firstly, the political instability is the prime factor and the corruption is the offshoot of that and therefore widespread in all sectors. The NBR or the national Board of Revenue is a sector where if proper check and balance could be introduced then the Billions of dollars that are taken out of the country could be stopped.
The bigwigs, politicians, business magnates and tycoons stash the cash and send the money through various ways. Even the foreign banks are said to be involved in the transfer of the cash. Why are people doing these kinds of activity id est. buying second homes in Singapore, Dubai, and Bangkok. In one of the popular magazines sites that the past 4 Parliament’s members each bought mansions in the Tri State of New York, New Jersey and Washington D.C . This is mainly done because they are afraid to invest the money in the country. Red Tapism is still the biggest impediment in making investment in the country. It is not that people are not patriotic they a better future for their progeny. This is nothing bad but how far does one carry out in assuring the future of the kids.

It might sound nice now to invest in second home in a nearby or far off land but what is the guarantee that country will not kick the “investors” out as this was done back in the past . Take Uganda for example so many Asians left the country just in one dress. Idi Amin the President for life expelled all the Asians out of the country. In the post 911 period the American Government froze the bank accounts of lots of non-Americans and in that many Bangladeshis had lost money amounting from 500,000 to 1million dollars.

Present might look rosy but who knows tomorrow the policies might change and the people might lose all their savings and the second homes might not rip the benefit for you might be treated as an “ Outsider” as it has happened countless times in the past.

Call it Karma or the divine destiny what comes around goes around. Therefore, it is the solemn duty of the young generation to rectify the mistakes made by their parents or Grand Parents for we all have to account for our deeds. There is no doubt in that.

The flight back to Dacca( May-June of 1976)

The time had come  to say good-bye to our friends.  We had made each one of the local community as well as the Expat community our well-wisher. They were more than friends.  My Abbu ( father’s) contract with the Ugandan government was years.  It appeared that  he would serve as the financial Advisor th National Textiles board for only 15 months.

My elder brother was diagnosed to be suffering from cerebral palsy. It was on this plea that the authority let us go early for my father was liked and the Board had wanted his service.  Meanwhile, the inflation in the country was growing at over 20 percent or more; hyperinflation.

The price of Nile perch was 8 shillings when we started buying it the first time but it had become 60 shillings or so as we were leaving.

Therefore, the job offered by the Libya’s Auditors generals office was a boon. This was in the month of May 1976.  Our friends were crying and we also had an emotion choking for we would be living Uganda for good.

We went to the Entebbe airport and the East African Airline’s plane took us to Nairobi. Wherein, we went Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

We stayed in a fine accommodation , provided by Ethiopian Airlines and could see the town of Addis Ababa. The taxi driver knew about BangaBandhu Sheik Mujibur Rahman. Who was unfortunately assasinated in a coup on 15th August 1975.

The hotel’s taxi service took us to the airport and we were bound for Jedda, the city on the coast of Red Sea.  The flight stopped at Asmara and we could see jet fighters and we were told not to take any pictures of the surroundings.

The steward had given us some chocolate and I had put it inside the pocket. As the plane landed in Jedda , we experienced  the heat of desert.

The air was a blast from the oven.  We stayed in Mecca and visited Medina . It took us  around a week to get a confirmed fligh t to Dacca.

The route was as follows: Jedda to Karachi; Calcutta;to Dacca.  The first leg was on aboard PIA, a DC -10. Then was SAS a 727 and later Biman  Bangladesh Airlines.

Pearl of Africa( 1972-1976)

British Passport, Canada, Thailand (Photo credit: dcgreer)

Idi Amin Dada, the president of Uganda for life, was an eccentric man to say in a better way, or a sadist as he was  portrayed in the movies and the press. To me he was the president of a republic which treated us as very special people.  The reason of Presidents Amin’s visit to Dacca in early 1974 or late 1973 was to take some professional from both Bangladesh. He also had similar visit to Pakistan.

This he did because he  thought with this kind of people  he would be able to change his country’s economic problems. The problems caused  after the mass exodus of ethnic Indians. In 1972 most of Indian’s were given 24 hours to pack up their bags. These were the descendants of  mainly Gujrati’s and other Indians who were under the British had migrated for work and better fortune.  The most important being the building of train line through the Port city of Mombasa, in Kenya  to Kampala, in Uganda. The city of  Nairobi was chosen as the  store for  the building materials and today it is the capital and most important city in the Kenya.

The economy was in the hands of the merchant class and most Ugandans resented this hence the decision to expel the ethnic   Indians.

Some of the richest ethnic Indians could not see beyond the blue waters of River Nile.  Their bodies either eaten by the crocodiles or forever stored in the water.  However, those with faith in the Creator took  refuge  in UK, USA or   Canada.

One such descendant , he was an immigration lawyer, whom my father  had met in Abu Dhabi in 1988  due to our chance of migrating to Canada,  had to say this. “President Amin was right,” and added  ” for his decision, we have become  citizens of  Canada.”

It is indeed a test from our Creator for He might put us into any position if so desires. We should always be positive.

We heard from people who had stayed behind mostly British that this country was the Peral of Africa.

My memoirs of this pearl is stored in the memory vasult of my Psyche.

Related articles

• 10 Things Uganda is Famous for (atenu.wordpress.com)
• Chinese In Uganda: Exploiters Or Economic Partners? (ibtimes.com)
• Welcome to the ‘Pearl of Africa’ – Jinja, Uganda (travelpod.com)
• Political meaning of Kiprotich’s gold (monitor.co.ug)
• Life for Uganda’s Asians, 40 years on (bbc.co.uk)
• Bring back the good old days of Idi Amin (sebaspace.wordpress.com)

Hotel Kampala International.

English: Lates niloticus – Nile perch (also African snook, Capitaine, Victoria perch) Česky: Robalo nilský (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We were fatigued! After a journey for five days. Covering some 8000 miles. We were simply relieved when the bus dropped us in the  hotel entrance and we got into the lounge. The receptionist had asked my father to fill up some forms. We were shown onto the lift and our luggage was carried by the bell boys.  They spoke english and it appeared ever body knew the language.

They had followed the British, the colonials who ruled up to 1964.  Unlike, an Indian and African never rebelled against the culture imposed by their colonial masters. They had learned their ways ; one fine example is ” you would never find an Ugandiad work after five.

The hotel bar was filled up with empty beer bottles and people would drink till midnight.  Meanwhile, we had come to meet Bangladeshi and Pakistani , expatriates who had become the guest of  Ugandan government.  We were treated very kindly by the authority.

The Hotel was a beautiful one, set in the green lush of  Equatorial Rain Forest, there were two ivory tasks in the lobby.  The Diners were Ruwenzori that was open  mainly dinner time, and served European styled 7 course meals. Buttery, on the other hand was mainly continental and was the only restaurant for Breakfast.

We were to rise early for breakfast , there were mainly Toast, Fried or Boiled eggs; Liver served with some side dish was fine but our favourite was the fillet of Nile Perch. This was baked or grilled. It was simply heaven on earth.  To begin the breakfast we had to start with Orange Jucie and finish with bunch of Tropical fruits.

Related articles

• Britain pours aid into autocratic Uganda despite pleas of democratic opposition (telegraph.co.uk)
• Ugandans fear Ebola but not HIV/AIDS (ireport.cnn.com)