TIB Study on 9th Parliament
98 bills passed in 135 work days; absence of MPs, sitting delay cause loss
Inclusion of the opposition in parliamentary committees is a positive
step towards establishing accountability, while low turnout of
lawmakers in parliament sittings hinders the democratic process, said
a study of Transparency International, Bangladesh.
Formulation of 48 parliamentary bodies in the first session of the
ninth parliament, accommodating members of the opposition, and setting
up of two committees headed by opposition politicians was hailed in
the TIB study.
The research also finds as many as 98 bills were passed in the ninth
parliament through 37 hours of discussions in 135 working days.
However, it says the parliament in the last six sessions spent about
Tk 19 crore just waiting for lawmakers to how up and make quorum.
About Tk 42,000 is spent in every minute of parliament proceedings,
the research estimates after calculating that total hours of delay by
quorum crisis was 74 hours.
"Although the ruling party enjoys huge majority and attendance of its
lawmakers is comparatively higher, quorum crisis delayed beginning of
all the sittings," says the research.
On average, each daily sitting was delayed by 33 minutes even though
the ruling party has over two-thirds majority in parliament, which
also experienced the largest ever period of boycott by the opposition.
"The trend of parliament boycott by the opposition has gradually
increased and reached a level of concern. Turnout of those who go to
parliament is also low," said TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman
after briefing journalists about the research findings at the Jatiya
Press Club yesterday.
Titled "Parliament-watch", the research reveals BNP walked out 16
times during its short stay in only 23 out of total 135 working days.
The main opposition has so far boycotted 83 percent of working days,
which was 59 percent and 42 percent in the eighth and seventh
parliament respectively.
On average, the treasury bench lawmakers attended 66 percent of the
House proceedings, while it was below 25 percent for the opposition
lawmakers. Attendance of the leader of the House was 72.4 percent
against only five days or 2.9 percent by the leader of the opposition.
The research suggests reducing the deadline for mandatory attendance
from 90 working days to 30 days to change the existing attitude of
skipping parliament proceedings.
"Apparently our political culture suffers a lack of sense of
accountability. Once elected, the lawmakers act in a way as if they
were out of the question of accountability. All their activities are
concerned with the interest of their respective parties or personal
gain," said TIB Trustee Board Chairman Sultana Kamal.
Another interesting finding is that four percent of the total 433
working hours was spent in making irrelevant statements. In these
statements, the lawmakers praised their party and party chief 616
times and criticised the opposition 808 times.
Fourteen out of the total 16 BNP walkouts were triggered by ruling
party's criticism. In the latest boycott, BNP has been out of
parliament for 48 working days since the first day of the fifth
session.
Only around 8.5 percent of the total working hours was spent on
formulating laws and 24.5 percent on budget discussion, adds the
research conducted on information collected from parliament and
electronic media between June 2009 and December 2010.
Prof Muzaffer Ahmad, a member of TIB Trustee board, said "We are being
deprived of the constitutional rights by a negative practice in
parliament. The practice is not tabling the treaties or deals filed by
the government with other countries for open discussion."
"The unfortunate fact is that such discussion never took place in
parliament," he added.
The research suggests mandatory participation in the proceedings by
both the leaders of the House and opposition, praising highest
attendees and publishing a list of absentees, increasing working
hours, and involving people in discussion before formulation of laws
regarding public interest.
It also says the waste of money from the delay might be higher as its
estimate only includes non-development and power expenditures. In
addition to these two, the functioning of the House requires
expenditures in some other service sectors.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=191991
http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2011-06-29/news/166204
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