Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Tuesday said that in real sense there no opposition in the present Parliament.
“There is no opposition in Parliament in real sense. There is an opposition in alphabetical meaning but not in real sense. Indeed, they are a part of the government,” said TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman while addressing après conference at CIRDAP auditorium while revealing the findings of a study on Ninth Parliament.
He expressed his concern over the journey of incumbent Parliament what he said without opposition and said they do not know about its sustainability. He however termed the situation temporary.
The TIB executive referred that the ruling party had made an assurance that they would start talks on the process of 11thParliament within a short span of time after the January 5 parliamentary elections to ensure participation of all political parties in it. “We want to see the implementation of the ruling party assurance,” he said.He also expressed his optimism that an meaningful parliament would be established in the country in line with the parliamentary democracy through holding an election be participated by all political parties any day during five years from today.
Iftekharuzzaman however expressed his doubt whether the 10th Parliament would be able to fulfill the expectation of the people.
He termed opposition one of the important parts to make Parliament effective saying that they are getting absence of such an opposition.
The TIB parliamentary watch report revealed that the quorum crisis during the ninth parliament caused the country waste of time worth over Tk 104 crore.
The study said a total of 222 hours and 36 minutes were wasted during the 19 sessions of the ninth parliament from 2009 to 2013.
According to an estimation, around Tk 78,000 is needed for every minute when parliament is in session.
It showed that only 8.2 percent time, meaning 109 hours and 44 minutes, was spent for enacting laws during the ninth parliament. In Indian Lok Shabha, 53 percent of the total time was spent for enacting laws.
According to report, a number of important laws was passed within three to four minutes during the last parliament that dissolved on January 24.
TIB Trustee and a former adviser to a caretaker government M Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, TIB deputy executive director Dr Sumaiya Khair, among others, were present on the occasion. TIB researchers—Morsheda Akhter, Fatema Afroz and Juliette Rosette—prepared the report.
Replying to a question, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said Parliament cannot be functioning due to lack of political willingness. He also emphasized the need for establishing good governance to make parliament effective.
He told a other questioner that the Jatiya Party has to make its own role clear to the people.
TIB executive Iftekharuzzaman expressed his concern over the continuation of parliament boycotting by the opposition during the ninth parliament saying that a should be enacted to stop boycotting of parliament by lawmakers.
He also expressed his concern over the increase of the comparative number of businessmen lawmakers saying that the per cent of businessmen lawmakers was only 17.5 in the first parliament that increased to 58 per cent in the present parliament.
The report showed that during the last parliament the opposition and independent lawmakers staged walkouts for 54 times on different grounds.
It said the opposition boycotted 12 sessions out of 19 sessions with highest 82-day continuous boycott causing waste of money amounting Tk 4.86 crore .
The TIB report further said the presence of opposition leader of eighth parliament was 80.38 per cent while the presence of opposition leader in ninth parliament was only 2.39 per cent.
The TIB recommended curtailing of honorium and allowances of lawmakers for being absent form the session, curtailing the period of consecutive absence from the House from 90 days to 30 days, preparing a code of conduct for the MPs and taking steps to hold discussion on the international agreements. – Staff Reporter
