10th JS was not totally functional: TIB
Jatiya Party has failed to play its proper role as the main opposition party for its dual position of being both in the opposition and in the govt
STAFF REPORTER
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) yesterday said that the 10th Parliament was not totally functional, as the opinions of people were not being properly reflected in the House. TIB also said that the main Opposition partythe Jatiya Partyhas failed to play its proper role in Parliament on account of its dual position of being both in the Opposition and in the government at one and the same time.
The observation came at a TIB press conference at its office in the capital on the occasion of the presentation of a report on Parliament Watch, highlighting the sessions of the 10th Parliament, ongoing from 7 to 13 April. The press conference was attended by TIB Trustee Board chairperson Advocate Sultana Kamal, executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman, deputy executive director Dr Sumaiya Khayer, and director of its research and policy wing Rafiqul Hasan. It is not enough to represent the people after being elected by votes. Rather, the parliamentarians should repeatedly approach the people to find out their opinions before passing any law. But we did not observe any such steps being taken by the lawmakers to represent the people, Sultana Kamal said. We have a number of doubts and questions about the effectiveness of the 10th Parliament. The peoples opinions should have been given importance, but it did not happen, she added. She also added: We have also seen the governments domination on Parliament. But the government and Parliament are not the same.
About the dual role of Jatiya Party in Parliament, she said: Its a problematic situation. In the report, weve found that the main Opposition was vocal in Parliament on certain issues, defending the peoples interests. But they could not continue it because of their dual role.
If Parliament was functional, the Opposition would get importance. The Opposition is under pressure on account of its dual role, she replied to a query. Sultana Kamal also said that abusive language has been used in the 10th Parliament. We hope the lawmakers follow parliamentarian norms. If they deviate from it, we will criticise it. In response to another query, she said: The government should have declared in Parliament the treaties that are being planned with India. People have the right to know about it. TIB, however, found a number of positive points about the 10th Parliament, including the increase in time for formulation of laws, increase in the average attendance of lawmakers, decrease in the quorum crisis to some extent, increased participation of the Opposition, and constructive Only 16 per cent of the total duration of the sessions has been spent on formulating laws. The report also reveals that irrelevant criticism and indecent language were present in the speeches made by functionaries of the government and the Opposition about the political alliance outside Parliament.
Giving a statistical overview of the use of indecent language in the parliament, the report said that unparliamentary language was used 654 times about the opponents inside the eighth Parliament while this figure was 233 in the ninth Parliament. But such language has already been used 433 times about the opponents in the 10th Parliament and 2,101 times about the political opponents outside Parliament.
