TIB again questions JP's role

A Berlin-based corruption watchdog has again questioned the Jatiya Party's (JP) role in Parliament, saying the party is yet to play an "effective role" of the Opposition.

In its 'Parliament Watch' report, published on Monday, the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has observed that "quorum crisis" in the 10th Parliament has cost over Tk 80 million in the maiden session.

The report is on Parliament session lasting 36 business days between Jan 29 and Apr 10.

Ruling Awami League-led alliance secured a comfortable two-thirds majority in the polls boycotted by the BNP and its allies.

Apart from sitting in the Opposition, the JP has also joined the government. Many from the party questioned the dual role.

However, Opposition Leader Raushon Ershad has been saying that they would make 'constructive criticism' as the Opposition.

TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman dubbed JP's dual role "unprecedented and exceptional".

"The opposition party (JP) which claims to be in an exceptional situation is basically suffering from identity crisis.

"Only time will determine how effective Parliament will be with this Opposition's role," he said at a press briefing in Dhaka.

He said boycotting Parliament was not a key index of an effective House.

"It doesn't mean the opposition party has played a proper role. However, the time has not yet come to evaluate how much they can play an expected role," Iftekharuzzaman said.

HM Ershad-led JP walked out of Parliament for several minutes protesting against raising power tariff.

However, the TIB has not found any active role of JP on issues of public interest.

Iftekharuzzaman said Parliament Leader Sheikh Hasina was present in 32 business days (88.82 percent) while Opposition Leader Raushon was there only 14 days (38.88 percent).

The report said the quorum crisis was serious. On an average, 28 minutes were wasted each day due to this crisis.

In the first session, quorum crisis lasted 17 hours and 7 minutes which, in monetary term, is equivalent to Tk 80.1 million.

Only 1.8 percent of total session went on to promulgate laws, the report said.

In a March 18 report, the TIB said quorum crisis in previous Parliament wasted time worth over Tk 1 billion.

The TIB executive director criticised the government for not having anyone from the Opposition headng the 51 standing committees.

TIB Chairman Sultana Kamal said the main job of Parliament was to enact laws.

She observed that the percentage of time spent on enactment of law did not reach 2 percent as businessmen dominated Parliament.

Laws that interested businessmen were pushed through "very quickly" while those pertaining to public interest were not prioritised.

"It takes long time to enact public-interest laws," she said.

The TIB has made 18 recommendations calling on the JP to play a visible role in making Parliament more "effective".

In the first session, total time spent was 113 hours and 51 minutes.

Of it, 52.3 percent was spent on President's speech.

The average of MPs’ presence in the first session was 64 percent, 4 percent lower than the previous Parliament.

In the opening session of the ninth Parliament, members praised their own party 251 times but this time the count went up to 856.

This time, criticisms were made 531 times but the number was 342 in the previous Parliament.