Government blames Awami League for Bangladesh energy crisis as opposition cites ongoing mismanagement

Bangladesh’s energy crisis has turned into a parliamentary dispute over who should be held responsible, with government lawmakers blaming the ousted Awami League and the opposition accusing the current administration of continuing the same failures.

Treasury bench members attributed the acute energy and gas shortages to the previous government’s “short-sightedness, corruption and protection of partisan business interests.” Opposition lawmakers agreed that the former government had contributed to the crisis, but said its roots now lay in “mismanagement, indecision, and above all, the government’s incompetent leadership.”

The debate followed a motion from Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman, who warned that the crisis could severely disrupt electricity generation, force industries to close and cause unemployment and serious damage to the national economy. He proposed a task force or dedicated cell to identify solutions.

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Such a body should not be a short-term measure, but a permanent mechanism to ensure coordinated action. If both the government and the opposition could move forward together through this platform, public confidence would be restored. Citizens would at least recognise that both sides [are working together].

Shafiqur said the mechanism should become permanent rather than a short-term measure. “Such a body should not be a short-term measure, but a permanent mechanism to ensure coordinated action. If both the government and the opposition could move forward together through this platform, public confidence would be restored. Citizens would at least recognise that both sides [are working together],” he said. He also said the present government had inherited the problem, but that the current crisis was more severe than previous energy shortages and had created widespread anxiety.

Jamaat lawmaker Muhammad Nazibur Rahman said officials had failed to offer hope and were instead telling people to wait while concealing the truth and shifting blame. He identified corruption, mismanagement, indecision and incompetent leadership as the crisis’s root causes. His proposals included increasing domestic gas production, securing regular fuel supplies, guaranteeing financing for coal-fired plants, holding a three-month fuel reserve, fully using existing infrastructure and adopting medium- and long-term plans. He also criticised imported coal while domestic reserves remain unused.

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The root causes of the crisis are corruption, mismanagement, indecision, and above all, incompetent leadership by the government.