It certainly presupposes a benign mindset of the people (the politicians) who advocate and execute the visions of the party. So, rewriting of these constitutional paragraphs (most of which are pretty fundamental) does bring up some germane questions:

• Are not these parties reinventing the wheel?
• Shouldn't this "wheel" have been invented at the inception of the parties?
• Even if the parties were launched without these fundamental principles in place, shouldn't the existing government agencies have outlawed such parties?
• Shouldn't the parties be outlawed forthwith, and be asked to resubmit their applications as new political parties (this may be too much to swallow for the parties)?
• Shouldn't the government institutions (Election Commission, Home Ministry, Law Ministry etc) that were responsible for endorsing such political parties be held responsible for such monumental negligence (and indeed corruption)?

If a mere rephrasing of some constitutional clauses is tantamount to a reform, then we are living in a fool's paradise. What guarantee is there that the democratic principles which are enshrined in the constitution will be meticulously upheld? What guarantee is there that the next incumbent to power (principally the PM) would not "over-ride" his or her democratic limitation of power?

What guarantee is there that future ministers would not again succumb to insatiable voracity for power? Therefore, it is simply a question of frailty in the character of a politician! And no amount of revision in the party constitution will give us, overnight, a new breed of politicians who are robust and steadfast in their moral set up.

There has been a lot of hullabaloo recently over the "reform" issue. The parties are meeting behind closed doors, and some have already come up with draft reform policies. Of course, the newly drafted policies are all benign.

But the question is, how far are these achievable, given that the chairperson (or president), general secretary, and the members, would be the same "type" of politicians. It is inconceivable that in the 36 years since liberation, no political parties thus far has managed to evolve out of the hero-worshipping and leader-centric culture of tolerating a continued preponderance, pre-eminence, and primacy of their respective party leaders.

The members of BNP and AL who are now so vocal, and seemingly genuine in their commitment to reform, were the very sycophants who only recently basked in the self-gratification of clinging to their leaders and showering them with adulation and glorification.

None of these latter day "reformists" had the courage to tell their "madam" to reform herself for the sake of the party or, indeed, to make a formal protest against all the shady dealings and corrupt practices perpetrated by her immediate family with her tacit approval.

When all else failed, the only honourable thing to do was to resign from the party as a protest -- however, no resignation was forthcoming! Of course these latter day "reformists" were more anxious to keep their jobs than the credibility of their party. And, had it not been for the present CG takeover in 1/11, the likes of Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan et al, and Suronjit Sengupta et al, would still be tagging along with their respective leaders, dittoing whatever spilled out of their leaders' mouths, or whatever unilateral policy they desired, or whatever corrupt practices went on behind their seemingly benign veneer.

For a credible makeover of Bangladeshi political power culture in a contemporary political setting, a three-pronged reform should be carried out:

• The party constitution, policies and conventions must be revamped so as to adopt a fully democratic makeover.
• The people or the members need to change their own mind-sets and attitudes, so as to respect and promote democratic culture within the party.
• The policy structures of government departments, agencies and subsidiaries, should also be revamped and bolstered so that the non-political executives do not become pawns of the whims and unilateralism (detrimental to national good) of any incumbent ministers.

The first point is straightforward; however, the second point is easier said than done. The mainstream parties have already begun their reform process as far as the first point is concerned, whereas achieving the second one necessarily involves an evolutionary process. And this will not be achieved in one generation -- a changed political ethos, practice and culture would gradually help to develop a new mind-set and attitude conducive to a democratic culture within a party.

As for the third point, a changed legislation in policy structure is definitely a way forward. There is always a "no-man's land" between the non-political executives and the (political) ministers, and the void is most often filled up by executives who are partisan or aspiring partisans.

To circumvent this perennial ill within the government the only way forward is to make realistic legislations, which would discourage any partisan tendencies once and for all. And above all, there must be total accountability and transparency across the whole political and governmental spectrum, or else we would always have some "aspiring" minister or executive going for the easy profit under the table -- and then years from now we would have to re-reinvent the wheel once again -- and that would be a colossal shame for us as a nation!

S.I. Zaman is a university professor.