Obedient opposition was a waste of money

It isn’t only countrywide corruption, increasing pollution, moral degradation or looting of public money that have taken Bangladesh near to the brink of an abyss, but the country’s parliament too, has evidently failed to deliver what it was meant for. Yes, four years into the 10th parliament; it has proved little more than just a one-sided political house where public demands and sincere commitment to fulfil them were rarely reflected. Almost all the 39 Parliamentary Standing Committees did not hold meetings regularly, even though the Rules of Procedure of the Jatiya Sangsad clearly stipulated for them to sit at least once a month. The lawmakers of the main opposition party were present in the current parliament on all the 341 working days. It seems, the ineffective Jatiya Party may have ended the culture of boycotting the parliament but miserably failed to stand up with the crucial issues. Most importantly, the standing committees repeatedly failed to perform their responsibilities of overseeing the government’s functions effectively.

The question now automatically arises after four years of malfunctioning do the people have anymore trust left on the 10th parliament?

What appeared a great mockery is – Due to the presence of a friendly opposition party in the current 10th parliament, neither the treasury bench nor the main opposition criticised each other or held debates on issues of public interest. Taking full advantage of the situation, the PM too has lauded the performance of the opposition bench and termed it an ‘ideal opposition’. Moreover, in the country’s history, this is the only parliament where the opposition MPs were seen to oppose a bill and at the same time participating in the discussions on it, and then voted in favour of it to get it passed. What can be sadder than this in a democracy?
First and foremost, the task of a parliament is to examine bills and pass them into laws, coupled with monitoring the work of the Government, but the Bangladesh parliament has proven to be a far cry from that. Having mentioned that, a parliamentarian should know the rules of order and proper procedures for conducting meetings of deliberative assemblies. They are also there to assist organizations in the drafting and interpretation of bylaws. But most of our businessmen-turned-MPs have abused these authorities passing controversial bills apparently promoting all forms of corruption.

The fact is that the 10th parliament was a farce following the oath taking ceremony of 154 uncontested MPs and boycotting polls by the opposition political alliance. Public money has been wasted on such domesticated opposition.