Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Sunday recommended enacting a law that would incorporate a provision for halting the culture of Parliament boycotts by any political party or political alliance. The aim of the proposed legislation is to make Parliament more effective. The recommendation was made in a report of the TIB titled ‘Parliament Watch’, which covered the eighth to 15th sessions of the Ninth Parliament. The report was disclosed through a press conference at BRAC Centre Inn on Sunday morning.
The TIB recommendations also included introducing the provision of a referendum for taking important decisions on national issues and giving final approval to the Code of Conduct for Lawmakers Bill 2010, with necessary measures for consideration in the House.
The other recommendations included restoration of a provision to discuss all national issues and agreements in Parliament, restraining lawmakers from using un-parliamentary words in the House and reducing the time limit of absence from Parliament from 90 to 30 consecutive days. Steps for making parliamentary standing committees more effective were also proposed.
The TIB report shows that the absence of a lawmaker from a Parliament session is worth Tk. 3,558 in economic value, meaning that the lawmakers of the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) received Tk. 4.01 crore as remuneration and allowances over the first four years despite boycotting the sessions.
According to the report, prepared by three TIB researchers — Morsheda Akkter, Fatema Afroj and Juliet Rossette — the Opposition lawmakers boycotted Parliament sessions for 282 of 337 working days since the Ninth Parliament began.
Out of 163 working days during the eight sessions, the report noted that the lawmakers of the main Opposition BNP boycotted the House for 153 days.
The report was prepared on the basis of the eighth to 15th sessions of Parliament, during two years from January 2011 to December 2012.
It also revealed that the leader of the Opposition, Khaleda Zia, attended the House for three days during these eight sessions of Parliament. She has attended session for a total of eight days since the beginning of the current Parliament.
TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman expressed his concern over the increasing trend of boycotts of Parliament while addressing the press conference.
“The competitive boycotts of Parliament sessions have turned into an alarming trend. It should be stopped by enacting a law. There is no alternative to it,” he stated.
Iftekharuzzaman also termed the culture of boycott of Parliament in the country unprecedented and embarrassing. He noted that it implies sheer disrespect for the mandate of the people.
According to the TIB report, the quorum crisis between the eighth and 15th sessions of Parliament caused an amount of Tk. 33.86 crore to be wasted, while 24 minutes and 27 seconds every working day was wasted on an average as a result of the quorum crisis.
The Opposition BNP has already given the green signal for joining the forthcoming budget session. It has been absent from the House for 83 days on an average. The TIB has published two earlier reports on ‘Parliament Watch’ in July 2009 and June 2011.
-With The Independent input
