Culture of 'truancy' in the House
LAWMAKERS are people's elected representatives and their primary job, as their designation implies, is to frame laws in parliament. Since the people of different parliamentary constituencies elect the members of parliament (MPs) through ballot, it's a small wonder that constituents expect service from them. However, there are different departments of the administration, the local government bodies and the service-providing agencies to look after the various needs of the people. The local MPs, on their part, play their roles by bringing to the government's notice where these official service agencies are failing or proving to be inadequate. A particular MP may raise the issue in the House so that the minister concerned may address it. In this way, the MP also pinpoints the areas under her/his constituency that merit special attention from the government from the perspective of development. The issues may also cover areas where the residents are faced with a problem that warrants urgent addressing. In fact, the constituents are wont to think that their MP will solve all their problems as s/he represents them either in the government or in the opposition.
The upshot of it all is that the MPs too often indulge themselves in the delusions of grandeur. They begin to think they are there to solve every problem on earth, if those have anything to do with the constituency they represent. But if they have a finger in every pie, what are those other elected bodies such as the upazila parishads or the union parishads for? Are not also the government and the semi-government organisations there to look after the various needs of the people and of development? No doubt an MP is the overall guardian of her/his constituency, but then the other representative bodies do also have their jurisdictions and exclusive areas to serve their constituencies.
A voter would remain loyal to the representative in the legislature as long as that MP remains concerned about the welfare of the constituency and its people.
Now consider the case of those political leaders and public representatives, whether in parliament, in the upazila parishads or in the union parishads, who are more interested in their perks, pays and various other privileges than the welfare of the people. Sad to say, unlike what one would see in the not-too-distant past, some modern-day MPs have no qualm about using their newfound power to accumulate wealth. And sometimes, the government, too, is found happily pandering to the elected public representatives' passion for Mammon. Though the political culture of electing constitutional governments through holding general elections was restored in 1991 through dislodgement of the previous dictatorial government, one remnant of the hated past still lingered on. Surprisingly though, the political leadership that was instrumental in bringing about the change was not eager to remove this throwback to the authoritarian times from the political culture. The point at issue is the ordinance that enables the government to provide expensive cars, as well as other perks and privileges to the MPs. Oddly though, the 2007-2008's army-supported caretaker government repealed that ordinance. At that time, many hailed the military-backed government's decision.
Now, though the ordinance has not been made into a law in the ninth parliament, the provision has not been done away with altogether either.
How to explain this change of heart among the latter-day politicians and public representatives? The truth is the ideology of self-denial, sacrifice and high moral standard that inspired political workers and leaders alike in the past is no longer the driving force of their modern-day counterparts. The influence of consumerism has transformed them into political professionals. So, why should they deny themselves the creature comforts of the high life in return for the service they are expected to render to society? Moreover, if the luckier lot among them, the ministers, are able to enjoy all privileges imaginable and available, why should they even bear the thought of being left out in the cold?
The people and members of the community that voted for their representatives in parliament are not really loath to provide them with the privileges of high life. But in return the voters can at least expect that their chosen representative in the legislature would dedicate some time out of their busy schedule to sit in the House and discuss the issues that have to do with their well-being and development.
Unfortunately, one hears of reports in the media from time to time that hardly speak well of our public representatives. The said reports are about the absence of the MPs in the parliamentary sessions in the Jatiya Sangsad. The leader of the House has often expressed her disapproval of such behaviour on the part of the parliamentarians. And it is also not the first time that the MPs have shown such apathy towards attending parliamentary sessions regularly. In this regard, one may recall similar instances of truancy during the sessions of earlier Jatiya Sangsads that attracted censure of the House leader of that time.
Interestingly, similar behaviour of the MPs has been reported from the Indian parliament (Lok Sabha), too. Recently, absence of MPs from the Lok Sabha sessions irked even Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress. She has even asked for the list of such absentee parliamentarians so that she might demand explanations from them for such undesirable behaviour.
It appears, this culture (may we call it the culture of 'parliamentary truancy?') is not limited only to Bangladesh. That means India, or maybe other still older democracies, are no stranger to this aberration!
In any case, aberration is aberration and it has to be corrected at all costs. In Bangladesh, in particular, where democracy has been restored at a cost, after a protracted struggle by people from all walks of life, cannot be allowed to be frittered away in this manner. The members of parliament as well as other public representatives should learn to respect the trusting common people who voted for them.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments