Parliamentary niceties
IT is not that much, but nevertheless it is a sign of growth of a decent and sophisticated political culture in the country, that BNP has decided to join the inaugural session of the ninth parliament on January 25.
It is also a significant development in the political history of Bangladesh that the prime minister and leader of the house, Sheikh Hasina has, on more than one occasion since her party's resounding victory, said that her government would not only listen to the views of the opposition but would also work with them to lead the country towards prosperity.
Sheikh Hasina's pledge to treat the opposition in parliament not on numerical strength but on its overall political weight has demonstrated the spirit of parliamentary democracy. The AL, in its election manifesto, pledged to offer the post of deputy speaker to the opposition to make the parliament effective.
The whole nation is enthusiastically waiting for the 9th parliament to go into session to embody the hopes and aspiration of the people, as it had seen the 8th parliament end its five-year journey as a dysfunctional body with continuous boycott by the opposition.
The 9th parliament faces many and varied tasks that need debates between the treasury bench and the opposition. The caretaker government has handed over power with at least 117 ordinances, which include many landmark ones, to be decided about in the first 30 days in the parliament. The first task of this parliament is to ratify the relevant and necessary ones.
Besides voting for a new president of the country, this parliament will have to pass many bills as laws to strengthen the process of good governance and to ensure the rule of law.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) released a sensational report on the 8th parliament, saying that it had failed to ensure the accountability of the government and the parliamentary standing committees on different ministries, and to investigate corruption and irregularities in different organisations under the ministries concerned.
The parliamentary standing committees, which are major weapons to make the government accountable for all its deeds, must be equipped with competent MPs.
MPs from the opposition should be chairmen of some of the important parliamentary standing committees, as has been promised by the prime minister, to make them effective in investigating lapses by public bodies.
The quality of democracy prevailing in a country is ultimately judged by the performance of the parliament and the accommodative attitude and respect for the opponents' view shown by the treasury bench.
The ruling party members, therefore, should bear in mind that it is their responsibility to allow the opposition to voice their views and also to be accommodating to their views, as the opposition is a crucial component of the parliament.
The history of our national parliament had sadly been a story of dashed hopes and aspirations in all these years after democracy was restored in 1991. But, this time, the people are quite happy with the attitude so far shown by leaders of both the treasury bench and the opposition.
The formation of the 9th parliament with many new-comers in politics on both sides of the divide is unprecedented in the political history of Bangladesh. Therefore, this parliament has ample scope for putting in place a system of governance that can truly reflect the people's will.
In this changed political scenario, there are reasons to be hopeful that the new prime minister will stick to her promise to provide the opposition with the opportunity of playing a meaningful role in the parliament, and the opposition, on the other hand, could play a pivotal role despite having little parliamentary strength.
Parliament, the heart of democracy, must be made to function properly for making laws reflecting the changed situation and times to materialise the democratic dreams of the people. The nation's aspiration for the efficacy of parliament will remain a mirage unless both the ruling and the opposition MPs are given equal opportunity to ventilate their point of views, which are the points of view of the people.
The responsibility lies on the speaker to explore and devise ways in which MPs from both sides can take full part in debates on significant public issues. The speaker's wisdom and neutral role can not only make the parliament's deliberations meaningful but also can help a lot in dismantling the wall that divides political parties in the parliament.
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