In a report on the ninth Parliament, the Berlin-based social watchdog has found the BNP-led opposition boycotting proceedings for 153 of the 163 working days. Six of the sessions were totally boycotted, the report says.
According to TIB, the Jatiya Sangsad incurs a loss of at least Tk 3,558 per day for the absence of one lawmaker.
So the total loss would stand at almost Tk 40 million due to sustained absence of opposition lawmakers starting from the eighth session until the fifteenth of the current Parliament.
The report was released at a programme in Dhaka's BRAC Inn on Sunday.
“The competition seen in boycotting Parliament in recent times is indeed alarming. This has to be stopped with laws, there are no alternatives,” TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said.
“This is unprecedented in my experience of global parliamentary democracy,” he said. “At the same time, it is embarrassing and also displays lack of respect for the people who elect the lawmakers.”
Earlier in July 2009 and Jun 2011, the social watchdog produced two reports ‘Parliament watch’.
In year-by-year analysis in the latest report, TIB showed that the opposition was present for only 23 of the 86 session-days in 2009, 21 days out of 88 in 2010, seven out of 80 days in 2011 and three out of the 83 session days of Parliament in 2012.
In previous reports, it showed that the opposition was absent 33.75 percent of the time during the fifth parliament (1991-96), 42.67 percent (1996-2001), and 59.79 percent during the current ninth parliament.
The BNP has said it will join the forthcoming parliament session that begins Monday evening.
They do not have a choice -- if they do not join, the opposition lawmakers will lose their seats.