Business leaders demand no directors in FBCCI without elections

The Anti-Discrimination Reform Council of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) has called for reforms to ensure that no director can join the FBCCI board without going through an electoral process.

The demand was raised by a group of general members of the FBCCI under the banner of the reform council at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity today (30 September).

A written statement was presented on the occasion by Zakir Hossain Nayan, a coordinator of the reform council.

According to the reform council, in the past 15 years, 57 individuals had joined the FBCCI board as nominated directors, many of whom later became presidents or vice presidents. 

Some of these appointees were allegedly not even businessmen and used their positions for personal benefits, such as securing CIP (commercially important person) status and accompanying the prime minister on foreign trips, they said. They added that these nominated directors rarely attended board meetings.

So such a process of nominating directors has to be abolished, the council said.

The reform council further called for direct elections for the positions of president, vice president and director, arguing that this would prevent the rise of authoritarian behaviour among leaders. 

It may be recalled that on 11 September, the governing body of the FBCCI was dissolved, and Hafizur Rahman, a member of the Bangladesh Competition Commission, was appointed its administrator. 

The administrator will oversee elections and hand over responsibilities within 120 days.

However, the council demanded that elections be held for all associations and chambers under the FBCCI before its own elections take place. It was claimed that all the current members of the associations and chambers were backed by the previous government, which is why the bodies were heavily influenced by political favouritism.

The reform council further said FBCCI's market monitoring committee works in favour of corporate interests rather than breaking up market syndicates, which is why corporate companies were able to continuously increase product prices without ever being held accountable.

The council also demanded reducing the number of FBCCI director positions from 80 to 35-40. It further demanded decreasing the number of directors from chambers and increasing representation from the association group.

Other demands of the reform council included a mandatory break after two consecutive terms for all association and chamber leaders, reducing the number of vice-presidents from 7 to 3, and enforcing a rule prohibiting gifts or incentives to voters after the election schedule is announced.

The press conference was attended by several members of the council, including coordinators Abul Kashem, Gias Uddin Chowdhury Khokon, and Zakir Hossain, among others.