THE Bangladesh Bank has so far made the headlines countless times for ills such as weak regulatory affairs, failures to recover loans in default, affording advantages to wilful defaulters, under-preparedness or no preparedness at all to stop scams, unwillingness, deliberate or procedural, to ensure democratic governance in the banking sector and many other issues and events. This time, the central bank has made the headlines for its efforts to stop such events or issues from making the headlines by stopping journalists from entering the bank premises for news gathering. The restrictions have been noticeably in place for about a month. The situation has forced journalists, who keep citizens informed of what goes within the government aimed at a better governance, to hold a sit-in in front of the Bangladesh Bank on April 25. And, the protests took place after a meeting with the central bank governor had failed to resolve the issue of unhindered access of journalists to bank officials, which had so been for 53 years. The restrictions have somewhat been around since 2016 when in February $81 million of the Bangladesh Bank was stolen from its account with the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.
The heightened restrictions have been around, as journalists believe, after various irregularities, especially regarding NRBC Bank Ltd, in the banking sector became public. Shortly after the governor鈥檚 appointment in July 2022, his brother-in-law, a retired army official who had no banking experience, was appointed vice-president of NRBC Bank in August 2022. The appointment has been in breach of the rule that requires 13 years鈥� banking experience for the appointment in such position. The vice-president at hand was made a senior vice-president within a year and was appointed company secretary, giving rise to allegations of nepotism. After the events, the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 executive director, who is the central banks鈥� spokesperson, said that the bank had decided that journalists would require specific authorisation, or entry passes, to enter the bank and they could meet only the spokesperson. Journalists with passes can meet only the specific officials and cannot visit other departments or wings of the central bank. Journalists fear that in such a situation, no official would issue passes to journalists as the authorities can easily identify the officials and charge them with issuing entry passes. This is nothing short of creating a fearful situation to stop any communications with officials to stop journalists from keeping citizens informed of irregularities and other ills that go within the central bank.
A free flow of information is what makes a democratic dispensation and well-meaning journalists play their professional role here by informing citizens of what goes inside so that the government can to be held to account. If everything goes well within the Bangladesh Bank and if it has nothing to hide, why is it afraid of journalists entering the bank premises, speaking to its officials for news gathering and making news for the greater good of the nation? The Bangladesh Bank must walk back its move on stopping journalists from visiting officials for news gathering.