Parliament in danger of losing its sanctity

Pintu, who was given the floor to deliver his speech on the national budget, made such an obscene speech that it even made the senior ministers feel embarrassed and request the Speaker to expunge it immediately. But acting Speaker Akhter Hamid Siddiqui refused to expunge them from the proceedings of the House immediately. Ultimately he was made to do so in the face of repeated demands, both from the opposition and the treasury benches.

It is most unfortunate that our national parliament has now turned into a venue for character assassination and its sanctity has been violated. Sometimes it also turns into an exclusive club of the downfallen. Such a state is a clear reflection of the quality of the politics and the leadership we are ruled by. Indeed, the nation is greatly frustrated with this sort of people occupying an august body meant for deliberation.

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Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) released a sensational report on our parliament a few months back. The report said that the present parliament has failed to ensure the accountability of the government and the parliamentary standing committees on different ministries have also failed to investigate corruption and irregularities in different organisations under the ministries concerned. The report also criticized excessive boycotts and walkouts from the House by the opposition MPs. The opposition MPs were absent in the House for 48 days out of 83 working days in 2004.

The reality, as reported in the survey report of TIB that keeps tab on the working of parliaments in emerging democracies, is however sadly different. The report on the functioning of our parliament revealed that a total amount of Taka 2.35 crore was wasted in three (4th, 5th and 6th) sessions of the current 8th parliament due to quorum crisis. The time lost in quorum failure amounted to 26.15 hours of the total session time of 127.50 hours. Only 22 hours were spent on legislative business. Interestingly, the MPs uttered the names of their party leaders at least 493 times during their deliberations. Such a report on our parliament has created a deep sense of concern among the patriotic citizens of the country.

The MPs elected to speak for 140 million people do not take their task seriously and yet they enjoy enormous power and privileges without the corresponding responsibility. There are also other charges against the legislators which are no less serious. Many of them do not pay telephone bills though they draw the money allocated for that purpose. The MPs imported tax-free cars of the latest model affecting the public exchequer. But these costly cars were ultimately sold for gaining profit. Such activities on the part of the elected public representatives of the highest category are a national disgrace.

A paramount truth we cannot afford to ignore is that there is a need to change the political culture foisted on us. This is mainly because politics is fast becoming a profitable business and the nexus between politics and criminality is corroding the democratic character of the polity. These people or others of their ilk would be voted again to parliament if the civil society movement for clean candidates does not bear fruit.

The 8th parliament is now limping towards the fag-end of its five-year journey, mostly as a dysfunctional body with continuous boycott by the opposition. When there has been an occasion when the opposition was present in parliament, most of the time was wasted in polemics, vilification, and angry exchanges of words that have had absolutely no bearing on national affairs. Given its lack-lustre and deplorable performance, the 8th parliament has never emerged as a legislative body worth its name.

In fact, the history of our national parliament has essentially been a story of dashed hopes and aspiration during the years since democracy was restored in 1991 following the collapse of the autocratic regime of Ershad. So far, we have not been satisfied that parliament has been able to answer public concerns. The prime examples would be the terrorist attack on the AL rally on August 21, 2004 and the country-wide violence perpetrated on August 17, 2005, which have never been deliberated on by the parliament.

One thing we can be sure of is that there is a shocking lack of maturity, morality, and even patriotism in many of our lawmakers. These are the qualities needed for deliberation in a body of utmost honour and dignity. The budget session is surely of crucial importance for the nation. When an MP is given the floor for budget discussion, he must not be allowed to embark upon character assassination of his rival. Discussion on budget in no way can be linked to vilification of the opposition leader and journalists. The rules of procedure (ROP) of parliament also provide that a motion shall be restricted to a specific matter of present occurrence.

The Speaker, as the guardian of the House, must ensure that the sanctity of the parliament is not undermined. Parliament is not a place for vulgarity and must not be characterised more by muscle power than debates on significant public issues. A national stand is also imperative for bringing about a qualitative change in the make-up of our parliament. Unless we reform the so-called democratic dispensation that makes a mockery of our national spirit, the parliament will be in danger of losing its sanctity.

ANM Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.