Editorial
The errant lawmaker
We expect better from our public figures
Awami League lawmaker M.A. Latif is in the news again, for obviously negative reasons. As newspaper reports would have it, the Jatiya Sangsad member from Chittagong tried to force his way into a meeting of the Water Transport Coordination Cell (WTCC) in the port city on Friday. When he was prevented from doing so, he is alleged to have verbally abused police officials present and even had the premises put under lock and key, though abortively. When the police positioned themselves inside the building, the lawmaker simply lay down on the floor to register his protest, a posture in which he remained for a few hours until he was moved out of the place.
Theatrics are sometimes a part of life with politicians given to demonstrations of ego play. But Latif's behaviour on Friday was taking idiosyncracy to an extent we do not expect from men in important positions. That is because this kind of behaviour not only undermines the individual indulging in it but also demeans the public office he happens to be holding. The unfortunate reality about Latif's attitude in recent times is that he has regularly been seen to embarrass those he crosses paths with as well as the party and constituency he represents in parliament. There are reports that he upbraided a police official on an internal airline flight earlier this year because the official failed to recognize him and greet him. Again, a few months ago, he publicly reprimanded a port official, who in this case was a senior navy officer, in the presence of other lawmakers and to a point that left those lawmakers embarrassed and onlookers in shock.
The lawmaker, in the matter of the WTCC meeting, was upset that an ad hoc committee to handle the affairs of the body was being set up at the initiative of no less a person than Shipping Minister Afsarul Amin himself. The move was clearly aimed at freeing the WTCC from his hold. Latif should have accepted the decision in good spirit. That he did not only underscores the reason why political parties need to inculcate discipline among their errant members.
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