Dhaka, June 9 -- Tofail Ahmed, head of the Local Government Reform Commission, has described the long-standing trend of grooming national leaders from student politics as a "misguided notion".

National leadership should emerge from local government, as those with experience working directly with the public are more attuned to real-life challenges and better positioned to offer effective solutions, according to him.

Tofail also believes that cultivating national leadership through local government would lead to a qualitative shift in the country's political landscape. For this to happen, however, he argues that the local government's structure and electoral system must undergo fundamental reform.

In an interview with bdnews24.com's talk...