MEMBERS of Parliamentary Committees taking foreign tours with financial support of concerned Ministries are breaking moral discipline and weakening their watchdog function on such Ministries. At least 100 MPs of 15 committees so far traveled abroad 24 times over last two years highlighting widespread corruption at high places of the government. A Bangla daily reported on Thursday that these tours performed in the last two years were described as ‘experience gathering’ and ‘learning tours.’ But what experience they gathered or what useful purpose they served can’t be found in the record of Parliament Secretariat or at concerned Ministries. It is known that Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury is skeptical about these tours of Parliamentary Committee members with fund collected from Ministries or their subordinate agencies such as RAJUK. In her view these are not justified but influence peddling, corruption and indiscipline are so rampant in our Parliamentary System that such tours are going non-stop. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is reported to have sought cooperation of the Speaker to discourage foreign tour but so far in vain. Meanwhile those members who could not yet avail of foreign trips through committees are continuing pressure to concerned Ministries for funding. It is well known that Parliamentary Standing Committees are integral part in Parliamentary System of government. These committees are mandated to monitor the activities of concerned Ministry and ask to correct mistakes if there is any. Standing Committees also investigate irregularity and corruption in the concerned ministry and make recommendation. But if members of the committees take money from the Ministries for foreign tours their oversight capacity must become weak. They lose their moral strength to demand compliance. Thus the committees cannot perform their duty freely and rather working with the ministries to misuse funds of different development projects and thereby becoming rich overnight. In Parliamentary democracy like India and Britain there are separate policy for foreign tour of Parliamentary Committee members. In those countries Parliament members visit abroad with the fund of Parliament. Separate allocation is made in annual budget for the purpose. But no such system exists in Bangladesh to suggest that our Parliamentary System is not yet to become fully institutionalized in our country. In our Parliamentary System without any credible opposition in the House, MPs are free to misappropriate government funds and misuse their power. There is no accountability of any sort when their only job is to keep the government in power. We are afraid the intermingling of MPs with executive branch of the government is multiplying corruption and destroying oversight capacity of Parliament.
