BAIRA elections today

Overseas manpower recruiters will vote on Saturday to elect the new executive committee of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA).

Voting will take place from 9am to 4pm at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka. A total of 182 candidates from three separate panels are vying for the posts in the next committee.

According to the BAIRA website, the association has over 1,568 members. General members will vote to elect 27 committee members. The new committee will lead BAIRA for two years (2022-2024).

The heated battle between the syndicate in manpower export to Malaysia and the anti-syndicate

quarter has given a new excitement to the election. Apart from two separate panels by these two quarters, there is another panel also contesting to take the helm of the association.

It is said that 25 recruiting agencies will be eligible to export manpower to the newly opened market in Malaysia. And 250 more sub-agents, who are also BAIRA members, will work together with these 25 agencies.

All the other recruiting agencies are trying to break the syndicate by winning the election and ensure fair business, said many members.

The panel allegedly representing the syndicate is being led by former BAIRA president Benjir Ahmed and former secretary general Md Ruhul Amin Shawpon.

The panel representing the anti-syndicate quarter, called BAIRA Sammilito Oikya Parishad, is being led by former BAIRA presient Mohammed Abul Basher. Former BAIRA president and Unique Group Managing Director Mohammad Noor Ali is the panel’s chief coordinator.

The third panel is being led by the association’s former senior vice-president Mohammad Faruk.