Bickering at the top

The deputy speaker has blamed the speaker for what he called violation of the constitution and the rules of procedure in conducting parliament sessions. The charges brought by him have actually further demeaned the parliament which has been limping since the main opposition lawmakers decided to boycott it in June last. So the focal point of all the activities of the treasury bench should normally have been a concerted effort aiming to bring the opposition back to the House. Regrettably, the speaker and the deputy speaker have apparently managed to drag the sour side of their personal relations into the functioning of parliament itself.

The speaker's role as the man who will garner the confidence of all the lawmakers, regardless of their party affiliations, cannot be overemphasized. But our parliamentary history is not replete with examples of the speaker's remarkable successes in this respect.

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Former speaker Sheikh Razzak Ali tried to win the confidence of the opposition MPs, but the same was perhaps not true about his successor Humayun Rashid Choudhury. And by the time the 8th parliament came into being, the role of the speaker appeared to be an even more diminished one, with the main debate raging over the opposition's participation in parliamentary proceedings.

What is most regrettable is that parliamentary norms lose much of their sanctity when they are violated by lawmakers themselves. The role and image of the exalted body for lawmaking is also diminished when incidents having little to do with its real function are allowed to overshadow more important matters.

The lawmakers have to realise that revitalizing parliament through participation of the opposition is at issue now. And they have to work to achieve that goal instead of wasting time and energy on peripheral matters.