In the last election of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), at least 900 persons who were not members of the trade body were incorporated in the voter list, said a Forum Panel leader of the BGMEA yesterday.

Two panels, namely Sommilito Parishad and Forum Panel, participated in the last BGMEA elections. The next BGMEA polls, to elect the leadership for the 2025-27 tenure, are scheduled to be held on May 28, according to the election schedule of the BGMEA published yesterday.

The traditional business model should be shifted to a scientific model to face the domestic and international challenges, said Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, the current leader of the Forum Panel.

At an iftar organised by the Forum Panel at the Army Golf Club in Dhaka, Babu assured that the BGMEA would not be a president-centric organisation if he was elected in the polls.

In the last BGMEA election, 800 to 900 voters were named on the voter list although they were not qualified to vote, Babu said.

Such an election deteriorated the image of the BGMEA, he said, adding that only eligible members and exporters should be on the voter list.

Babu added that exporters face major challenges from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Bangladesh Bank (BB) and these problems need to be resolved in the greater interests of the garment business.

He suggested appointing professional audit firms to conduct audits of the BGMEA so that no fake voters can cast votes in the election.

Babu also suggested the government divide the textile and jute ministry to bring more dynamic functions to the BGMEA and garment industry.

For instance, he suggested tagging the garment sector with textiles and to create a textile and garment ministry and to tag jute with the agriculture ministry to create an agriculture and jute ministry.

Currently, the commerce ministry is the parent ministry for the garment sector, but it is too busy to work for the garment sector, he said.

He also assured that he would bring the BGMEA University of Fashion and Technology under the BGMEA again.

M A Salam, president of the Forum Panel, said the election of the BGMEA would take place on May 28 and was also hopeful that this election would be better than the previous one.

Babu also said a single person alone cannot solve the problems of the organisation, instead saying that it required teamwork.

Rubana Huq, a former BGMEA president, was also hopeful that the upcoming election would be transparent and address all kinds of previous backlogs.

So, it is expected that this election will help grow this trade, she said. Statistics show that garment exports were growing, but the confidence of the businesses was not growing, Huq said.

Former Panel leader Faisal Samad said the garment industry needs to be taken to a better position.

Anisur Rahman Sinha, a former BGMEA president, said the garment industry has been facing a lot of challenges because of changing global trade scenario and Bangladesh would have to face those changes in the near future.

Rashid Ahmed Hossainy, secretary general of Forum Panel, said they could not speak out over the last 16 years and many owners had to pay bribes to renew trade licences.

Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury, a former BGMEA president, and Selim Rahman, a leader of Forum Panel from Chattogram zone, also spoke.