Continuous quorum crisis

It is by now obvious that being present at the sessions on time has become less important to the policy makers than attending to other business. But what they seem to have forgotten is that by addressing those 'more important' things, the MPs are insulting their electorates, not to mention costing the exchequer millions. A survey by Transparency International shows, the quorum crisis in the fourth, fifth and sixth parliament sessions cost the country more than 20 million taka. But the politicians look undeterred by this fact. Instead they are busy accusing each other for the crisis. In our view, both the treasury and opposition bench should be blamed for this unfortunate event, but the responsibility falls largely on the treasury bench which has a vast majority of more than two hundred MPs in the House.

We find the comment by the Law Minister, Moudud Ahmed that the leader of the House was not needed to be present all the time, slightly sweeping. Of course we don't expect here to be present all the time, but she should be present most of the time. However, in reality we see her more absent than present. She must set example that the others could follow.

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The sooner the policy makers realise that it is their primary responsibility to attend the parliament, the better. They are obliged to do so to their voters. We would urge the leaders of the parties and the whips to take steps to ensure the presence of MPs in the House and stop making a mockery of our political system.