Incorruptibility of Greed / January 25 2004
Letter from an Oxford BA, MIT PhD who tried to advance tech in Bangladesh. It outlines the level of corruption he's had to deal with over the past few years, to the degree that he's now pulling out and heading back to the UK. This, my friends, is what makes me so sad sometimes.
Dear Colleagues,
I came to Bangladesh over two years ago with the hope of applying my knowledge and experience to do whatever I could to help develop the IT sector in the country. I established Seventh Sense Software in January, 2002, and we were able to achieve a great deal in a short space of time.
And so it is with some regret that I have decided that there is little more productive that I can do here, and rather than simply wasting away here in Bangladesh I have decided to put the Seventh Sense Software offices into hibernation and return to the UK. I have probably lasted somewhat longer here than others who may have tried, but the environment really makes it completely impossible for anyone to sincerely and honestly make significant contributions to national technological development.
It is a simple fact that the businessmen, the government officials and even the academics - indeed anyone in a position of power or authority, are at best apathetic to the level of corruption in the country, and at worst, are so dishonest and corrupt themselves that it stifles any well-intentioned initiatives for development that anyone may have. Without naming names, the latter group sadly includes even those who have been officially charged with the task of development of the IT sector - including senior BASIS members and members of the government's ICT Task Force. So there is little hope that anything really positive will be achieved by their hands, no matter how much they spout praise for their own efforts.
I will just give a few specific examples of the kind of things I have experienced first hand during my time here. These are not just one-off events, and I am certain that everyone else has to deal with the same problems:
1) Bribes, bribes, bribes! Corruption is rife everywhere. Bribes have to be paid for trade license, for tax numbers, for company registration, for import/export licenses, for legal help, for bank accounts, for accepting/making payments, for jobs, even at the post office to send commericial samples. This makes it exceedingly difficult to estimate or take control of costs, yet (unless one is very well connected, or gets involved in the same game oneself) we are completely powerless to do anything about it and find ourselves completely at the mercy of the system. The nation is really rotten to the core.
2) Corruption in government tenders. Although my company has only indirectly applied for a single government tender, this has been a real eye-opener. In particular, one relatively small company approached me early on asking me to act as team leader on their behalf for a government tender they were applying for. Later on I discovered that (a) they had absolutely no intention of making use of me other than to put my name on their application form, and certainly had not intention of paying me for this, and (b) they had paid an enormous bribe (over one crore Taka) to ensure that they won the tender. In actual they did not get the job, which I estimate must have been worth tens of crores of Taka. Maybe someone paid a bigger bribe, or maybe someone just wanted more money. Who knows? The company as it happens, would not in my estimation have been able to complete the task successfully anyway, and it is not clear whether anyone actually cares.
Recently the MD of a software company wrote to all BASIS members in sheer frustration at the corruption which was taking place in a recent tender, and the same frustration has been expressed over and over again by numerous individuals - even up to the level of the BASIS president. It is a simple fact that no government tender is ever won fairly in Bangladesh - even if a top company offers to do a job for free they will not win a tender as it will go to the company who pays the largest bribe. There is no doubt between the official and actual numbers. So what good is it if the government gives more jobs to local companies, if they only go to those who have the means to pay the largest bribe?
3) Opportunistic businessmen. Most businessmen running software companies have little to no background in IT. Countless businessmen have swarmed around me like flies, looking to take advantage of my abilities in order to cover for their own lackings. Some have even gone as far as to start harassing me, for not returning favours (they seem to think that in return for a cup of tea, or perhaps even lunch, they should receive favours worth lakhs or even crores of Taka - or I will face the consequences). And so I finally made it a matter of principle not to deal with any software company owners - my impression is that they are a devious and treachorous bunch of people. Unfortunately they have to be to succeed in this environment, so perhaps this is not their fault. I will mention that eSophers who produced "Dhaka Racing" is a very important exception to this rule (obviously not the only one), being run by hard-working, sincere and intelligent individuals, and Seventh Sense Software company will continue to support them in their activities.
4) Breach of trust. Although it was never my intention to take on consultancy jobs (particular for database system development), the one job which my company did take on was quite disastrous (which was for an Australian consultant working at the Planning Commission as a representative of a well-known UK consultancy company with offices in Dhaka). We were approached by the Australian gentleman who requested that we produce a database system on his behalf (he came to us after reading an article about the company in one of the major daily newspapers). After six-seven months of hard work, we delivered a complete working system but did not receive full payment for it. Rather, senior members of the Planning Commission/ICT Task Force protected the Australian and helped him to flee the country before. We even took legal action to try to enforce payment according to the contract, but to no avail. As it happens, this also opened my eyes to the absurd levels of corruption which exists in the legal system here. Absolutely *anything* is possible in Bangladesh if you are willing to pay for it.
5) Best students apply abroad. On a less sinister note, it is a sad fact that almost without exception, the best students are desperate to leave the country to seek a better future abroad. Despite the adverse affects this must have on the country, I can only sympathise with them, as there are simply no opportunities available here that can make appropriate use of their abilities or potential. This has affected my own company, where every employee (without exception) is applying for an advanced degree abroad.
6) ICT incubator. The ICT incubator is a remarkable example of the kind of inane stupidity our visionless IT leaders put into action. In principle, an incubator, which nurtures the growth of small companies to turn them into large successful ones, is a good idea. However in practice what we ended up with was a successful rental business for BASIS executives to make money out of naive and hapless companies who were gullible enough to be wooed in by their promises of cheap space and excellent facilities. What they ended up with was relatively expensive rental space (particularly due to the enormous starting costs), and very poor facilities, where even the power and internet does not work properly. The use of the word 'incubator' is in fact complete nonsense.
6) External consultants. As a member of BASIS (actually I stopped getting involved with them some time, as I became frustrated with their total lack of vision and obsession with self-interests), I have often wondered exactly what it is they are doing to help develop the IT sector. While they are full of self-praise, they only appear to bring in consultants from India or even from the US to give short seminars - which help the consultants make a bit of money know doubt - which is completely detached from the reality of what the counntry needs to develop. I remember being amused by a husband and wife pair from the US who were ex-intelligence agents with little to no IT background who had apparently come to each us how organisations such as BASIS should be run. What next? Mossad agents telling us how to run our IT sector?
7) Private universities. Computer science courses are now widespread throughout the numerous private universities which have sprouted up. Almost without exception the courses are ill-planned, lacking qualified faculty and resources, and quite inappropriate for the needs of the students who are paying hefty sums to take them. The universities have little concern for the quality of education, and have great concern for making as much money as possible. I have a number of unpleasant experiences even with some of the better known universities. The most amusing experience was being offer an Associate Professorship in computer science at a private university in return for which I need only give half an hour of my time per month. Now what could they possibly do with half an hour of my time except splash my name and my Oxford and MIT degrees over their brochures to attract more hapless and naive students to part with their money?
8) MOSICT failures. One thing which particularly hurt was a research grant which Seventh Sense Software applied for from the government to develop a state-of-the-art Bangla speech recognition system. I spoke with senior members of the ministry, and all of them were full of words of praise and support - particularly after we successfully demonstrated a prototype system at the Secretariat after which they promised to fund the research. Needless to say they never kept their word, which basically sums up the kind of support the IT and scientific R&D sectors can expect from the government - basically a lot of hot air but no real support. Having said that, I was also told that a BUET professor who had applied for funding for a similar system, would indeed receive it. By their admission, they had no expectations that this professor would ever produce working software - but they were bound to support him as he was, after all, a BUET professor. I later decided that maybe I should apply for a professorship at Dhaka university, but needless to say it turned out there appear to be no honest ways to succeed in this.
There are many more things I can add to the list, but it should at least give a flavour of the kinds of problems we are faced with here, which will not be overcome without massive upheaval and widespread changes, such as are brought by civil war initiated by power-hungry political parties (which in my opinion is more-or-less imminent). What else can rouse the national conscience to realise that things have to change?
And things must change. Despire all of my comments above, I still (perhaps naively) remain optimistic for the long term as, from my personal experience, Bangladeshi youth are amongst the most talented in the world, and all of them hope for, and will strive for, a better society given the opportunity and a conducive environment.
And as my farewell message I wish you all Eid Mubarak, and best of luck for the future. You will be in my dua.
Sincerely yours,
Sabbir Rahman
BA Hons (Oxford), PhD (MIT)
Chairman, Seventh Sense Software
