In about forty-nine years of independence, we cannot make the Jatiya Sangsad as effective as we expected in terms of passing legislation, representing the people, and ensuring accountability of the government. Most of the parliamentary committees do not play their due roles to ensure accountability of the ministries concerned.
We also observed that the absolute majority of the ruling party obtained through the questionable 11th parliamentary elections has further strengthened the power monopoly of the party in parliamentary activities, especially in law making, budget formulation, and parliamentary standing committees. Besides, a strong role of the main opposition in ensuring accountability of the government is missing as they took part in the polls under the banner of the grand alliance.
According to a report in a national daily on Thursday, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman while unveiling a study report on “Parliament Watch” based on five sessions of the first year (January to December 2019) of the current parliament said the culture of questionable and controversial elections has been established in the country. The possibility of a change of power in a peaceful and normal democratic electoral process has been ruled out. The culture of boycotting parliament by the opposition has also been stopped because we do not have an effective opposition party in parliament.
As reported, the anti-graft body also said the money and time wasted due to quorum crisis was estimated to be Tk 22.8 crore and 19.26 hours of the five sessions. An addition, there was a lack of discussion on the bills in most parliamentary committees. Of the 350 MPs, only 14 discussed bills by submitting notices. The role of the rest was limited to voting “yes” or “no”.
As effectiveness of standing committees is not up to the desired level, the accountability of the government is also not ensured. There is a distance created between the people and the parliamentary activities and as a whole, the effectiveness of the JS committee is hindered. If parliament remains unable to sustain itself as the central pillar of our democratic process then our very system stands endangered.
We strongly believe that by only holding the national parliamentary elections participatory, fair and neutral in the real sense, the JS can be made effective and meaningful in real sense.
We also observed that the absolute majority of the ruling party obtained through the questionable 11th parliamentary elections has further strengthened the power monopoly of the party in parliamentary activities, especially in law making, budget formulation, and parliamentary standing committees. Besides, a strong role of the main opposition in ensuring accountability of the government is missing as they took part in the polls under the banner of the grand alliance.
According to a report in a national daily on Thursday, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman while unveiling a study report on “Parliament Watch” based on five sessions of the first year (January to December 2019) of the current parliament said the culture of questionable and controversial elections has been established in the country. The possibility of a change of power in a peaceful and normal democratic electoral process has been ruled out. The culture of boycotting parliament by the opposition has also been stopped because we do not have an effective opposition party in parliament.
As reported, the anti-graft body also said the money and time wasted due to quorum crisis was estimated to be Tk 22.8 crore and 19.26 hours of the five sessions. An addition, there was a lack of discussion on the bills in most parliamentary committees. Of the 350 MPs, only 14 discussed bills by submitting notices. The role of the rest was limited to voting “yes” or “no”.
As effectiveness of standing committees is not up to the desired level, the accountability of the government is also not ensured. There is a distance created between the people and the parliamentary activities and as a whole, the effectiveness of the JS committee is hindered. If parliament remains unable to sustain itself as the central pillar of our democratic process then our very system stands endangered.
We strongly believe that by only holding the national parliamentary elections participatory, fair and neutral in the real sense, the JS can be made effective and meaningful in real sense.
