DHAKA: Boycotting of 342-day parliament working sessions out of 418-days by the then main opposition BNP has wasted worth Tk 4.87 crore.      

They have created a record in the history of parliament remaining absent from businesses while they took all the financial benefits from House.

Besides, a total of Tk 104.18 crore was wasted due to quorum crisis in the 9th the parliament.    
             
This information was disclosed on Tuesday by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on its research work titled “Parliament Watch” done on the businesses of 9th parliament held at CIRDAP auditorium.                                         

The summary of the key report was presented by the TIB research and policy program manager Juliet Rojeti and deputy program manager Morsheda Akhtar.                                 

TIB trustee board member M Hafijuddin Khan, executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman and deputy executive director Dr Sumaiya Khair were present in the press meet.        

The report disclosed that leader of main opposition set a new record by boycotting the parliament who was present for only 2.39 percent. The waste of money was worth Tk 4.87 crore for skipping the parliament.
     
M Hafizuddin Khan told that there is a controversy about the 10th parliament whether it is consistent with the constitution or not.

“Our parliamentary democracy is now in a sort of risk,” he added.     

In reply to a question, TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman informed that there is no opposition in the current parliament. “If it (Jatiya Party) is, then why it is in the cabinet”, he questioned.                   

Former advisor to the caretaker government M Hafijuddin Khan said that the parliament is not workable only due to absence of political will.      
    
“There is no alternative to vibrant parliament except a strong opposition. It is obligatory for a vibrant parliament to remain present and to make it the focal point of all matters with the object of establishing good governance”, he opined.  

Hafij also said this type of culture of boycotting parliament is unparallel which is embarrassing as well as disregarding the rights of people.     

He recommended the time of absence in the House should maximum 30-days.             

In the published report everything about reviewing of the businesses of 9th parliament, the activities of parliament members and the role of the parliamentary standing committees, observation of the role of the members in framing laws were analyzed.
      
The information gathered either directly or indict means it contained the working days, quorum shortage and the presence of the members, leaving out sessions, walk out, role of the Speaker, speech of the President, budget discussion, question session, public importance notice related matter, passing of bill, point of order, speeches of the ministers, basic information of the standing committees, general discussion and the parliamentary behavior of the members.

It has been mentioned that the attendance of the members has increased to 63 percent than the 8th parliament which is one of the positive side in the report.                                          

More positives sides of the report are the lessening of irrelevant discussion, formation of standing committees in the first session and four members of the opposition were made president of standing committees, taking part in the standing committees meetings regularly, bringing amendments in the parliament on the bills, scrutinizing the bills where both treasury bench and opposition members participated.

But that achievement could not continue due to long absence of the opposition members. As in the absence of the opposition members their bills were not placed accordingly.       

According to the reports there were obstacles in the activities of the parliament to make it effective in the march for democracy which is still going on. Due to quorum shortage about 222 hours 36 minutes were wasted on an average of 36 minutes.                               

To conduct the session, the cost of one minute is Tk 78,000. So, the worth of time waste is about Tk 24.96 lakh due to quorum shortage. The whole cost of the parliament duration was worth Tk 104.18 crore due to quorum shortage.    

The report pointed out the representation of the business community increased to 57 percent in the 9th parliament which was only 17.5 percent in the 1st parliament. On the contrary, the representation of lawyers decreased to 14 percent in the 9th parliament which was much more in 1st one.      

In the 19 sessions of the 9th parliament total business time was 1331 hours 54 minutes. Every business session lasted for 3 hours 11 minutes on an average. The time was used as follows- budget discussion for 21.8, 18.1 percent for the reply of the ministers and only 8.2 percent were used for making laws.    

According to “parliament watch” report the treasury bench members more than three fourth were present in business sessions more than 75 percent which is 46.9. The opposition members were present for one fourth time, which means 25 percent of the total working sessions.                                               

The report said that this rate was 34 percent in boycotting parliament by opposition in the 5th parliament. It increased to 60 percent in the 8th parliament and in the 9th parliament it made a new record of 82 percent breaking all past records.                                    

During this time 277 bills got through. Of those 268 were from treasury bench, 3 unofficial. However, the culture of rejecting through voice vote in the proposal for taking public opinion survey continued.         

The report said 8.2 percent time was used for framing law and a total of 12 minutes took for getting it through. In the 19 sessions some important bills namely Anti-Corruption Commission (amendment bill 2011; Right to Information bill, 2009; public interest disclosure of information (protection) bill, 2010; Information & technology bill,(amended) 2013; Law and order related speedy trial bill (amended) 2010; local government (city corporation) bill 2011 and upazila parishad (amended) 2011 were passed.

But the conduct rules for the parliament members 2010 was not passed though it got the nod of the standing committee on March 24 of 2011.                                              
                          
In the report it was mentioned that 53 standing committees and 183 sub-committees were formed. Some 45 committees submitted recommendations. Of these 4935 recommendations submitted by 22 committees 1787 reports were implemented which is 43.17 percent.     

TIB’s several recommendations containing 21 points were made to the government to make democracy stronger, making the parliament vibrant, making the parliament focal point of accountability, presence of the members, their democratic behavior, the involvement of the people with the parliament and the enhancing the power of standing committees.               

The recommendations also included the lessening of parliament boycotting to 30 days, enhancement of the business sessions to 130 days in a year and debate on the International pacts including the national interest related matters.    

It recommended for seeking public opinion in the matters of urgent public interest.

The ‘parliament watch’ report also recommended to take necessary measures so that the ministries concerned would take effective measures to implement the recommendations made by the standing committees within 60 days.

BDST: 1840 HRS, MAR 18, 2014