Most people's desires are very modest. It doesn't take a great deal to make them happy. And in Bangladesh, even less so. It wouldn't take a great deal for most Bangladeshis to feel that things are generally moving in the right direction and that they are content with their lot

Safe drinking water, not coke. Electricity for light and maybe a fan, not air conditioners. The means and ability to move around cheaply and without undue hassle, not their own personal chauffer-driven car (I know that many readers must be shifting in their chairs, wondering who on earth I am talking about, but believe me, for most Bangladeshis, this is indeed the case).

Look at the negotiations with respect to a minimum wage in the garment industry. Without proffering an opinion on what an appropriate or workable wage should be, I think we can all agree that the Tk 3,000 the workers have been demanding is, in absolute terms, a pretty paltry sum. But for most Bangladeshis, Tk 3,000 a month is a generous salary, something they can only aspire to.

Today, most garment workers earn barely a thousand taka a month. Rickshaw pullers the same, if they are lucky. Security guards earn Tk 2,500. Farmers struggle mightily to make ends meet. I met today with an old driver, retired to his village in Lokkhipur, who I help out with a thousand taka a month. One thousand taka. It makes all the difference to him.

These are the Bangladeshi people. And there are tens of millions of them. The tragedy of this nation is that it doesn't take much to give the Bangladeshi people what they need and what they deserve. But even that little they have been denied.

The failures of the current government have been abject. First, it has failed to provide even the most basic of services. Then it has arrogantly denied that there is a problem, as though the people are fools and blind to the evidence in front of their eyes. Then, finally, it has shot dead in the streets those who have had the temerity to demonstrate for their rights.

Nor is it the working classes alone who suffer. The middle classes, too, have trouble making ends meet and live a life of ceaseless insecurity and anxiety.

So what is the country to do? We have been patient. We put our faith in Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. We put our faith in Ziaur Rahman. I don't know how many people put their faith in Hossain Mohammad Ershad, but all the same, the bulk of the people did wait patiently for a time to see whether he could deliver, before rising up against him and then waiting patiently again for better days to arrive.

First, we were disappointed by the BNP. Then the AL government failed to live up to the people's hopes and expectations. Now, the BNP-led government has again failed the people.

Where do we go from here?

Is there any reason at all to give the BNP another shot? Third time lucky? Will the AL be able to do anything for the people or will it be the same old story?

Some look nostalgically to the days of Ershad and imagine that life under military rule might be better. But once again this is nothing more than a hope, a dream, the same dream that some deus ex machina figure will come from above and lift us out of our misery.

But this is a pipe-dream, far removed from the reality.

The real problem we have faced since the start is that we have never given any power or voice to the people, so it is no wonder that their needs have never been met.

Democracy as a basis for good governance isn't based solely on the noble notion of everyone having an inalienable right to order his or her own affairs. This is certainly one strong argument in favour of democracy, but the other, more persuasive argument is that democracy creates accountability, which leads to good governance.

But in Bangladesh we do not have, have never had accountability.

In the first place, elections are never fully free of intimidation, coercion, and "election engineering," which limits the ability of the people to call their elected representatives fully to account.

In the second place, so much of the workings of government have remained hidden from public view, that we do not even have access to the information to let us fully know how bad a job the government has been doing, to even begin to take the steps to redress things.

In the third place, we have no mechanism in place to create accountability within the system. Every five years we can (if we are lucky) throw the incumbent government out and bring in a new bunch, but that's about it.

The solution to Bangladesh's ills is not less democracy, it is more. This is something that we have never tried before, and be assured that there is a direct correlation between the dysfunctions in our democracy and the dysfunctions in our nation.

Instead of looking to strong leaders in khaki or clerical robes to lead us to the promised land, we need to look into ourselves.

How about working towards creating a system that allows the common man and woman to participate in their own governance and taps into the collective wisdom and ability of the Bangladeshi people. I assure you that it far exceeds the collective wisdom and ability of our ruling elite.

If we can give voice to the people, we might just find that the solution to all our problems has been in our hands all along, if only we had had the courage to try.

These are the people who have given their lives to demand that the government provide them with water and electricity and fertilizer at affordable prices. These are the people who would be content if only the government could keep the price of essential commodities within a reasonable limit. These are people who would be happy if only the government, for once, was responsive to their needs and interests.

Perhaps, for the first time in our history, we should consider listening to them, and try to give them what they need. What a wonderful world that would be.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.