Black money, muscle power 2 major hurdles

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Elimination of the use of black money and muscle power in general elections is the most crucial instrument for establishing an effective parliament that can ensure transparency and accountability of the government, said politicians and civil society members at a seminar in the capital yesterday.

Once their use is stopped, honest and competent people can be elected to make parliament and its committees active, which can contribute to combating corruption in the ministries and other wings of the government, they noted.

The speakers sought pledges from the political parties in their manifestos that they will form parliamentary committees on the first day of parliament session and avoid boycott of its sessions, absenteeism and delayed attendance in parliament, adopt a parliamentary code of ethics and enforce it.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) organised the seminar on ‘Corruption and Parliamentary Oversight: Primacy of the Political Will’ marking International Anti-Corruption Day, held at Women’s Voluntary Association auditorium.

TIB Chairman Prof Muzaffer Ahmad said candidates who spend Tk 4-5 crore in the elections usually tend to make money after they are elected. He stressed punishment to candidates who violate Representation of the People Ordinance.

He pointed out that election expenses of many candidates already crossed the stipulated Tk 5 lakh each even before the schedule for next election was announced.

Parliamentary standing committees in the past could never play their due role in making the government accountable, he said. “We might have an effective parliament had there been an independent judicial system and ACC (Anti Corruption Commission).”

Muzaffer Ahmad said Article 70 of the constitution that prevents floor crossing has outlived its relevance and must be reviewed to ensure objectivity and integrity of parliamentary practices.

He urged the government to immediately sign and ratify the Anti-Corruption Convention of the UN.

Former Awami League (AL) lawmaker Faruk Khan said election process should get more attention to strengthen parliamentary system. It should be mandatory that elected candidates declare their assets on the first day of parliament session.

If election expenditure could be controlled, honest people would join politics, he thought.

AL central leader and former legislator Suranjit Sengupta said a mockery of parliamentary system is going on in Bangladesh. Opposition lawmakers are not allowed to speak on important points while the speaker is highly partisan and often ignores important issues in parliament, he added.

Former BNP Lawmaker Akbar Ali pointed out that there is no mechanism to make the legislators accountable even after the expiry of their tenure.

In many cases, political parties compete in nominating big businessmen and patronising musclemen to win the elections, he regretted.

Former Jatiya Party lawmaker GM Quader said experience shows that illegal money dominates politics. “It should be ensured that black money and muscle are not used as a means of going to power,” he stressed.

TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman in his keynote presentation said most of the parliamentary committees of the parliament failed to meet as was mandatory. At least 87 per cent of the committees violated rules, he noted.

The Public Accounts Committee also achieved very little as regards its responsibilities, he said. Of the Tk 13,154 crore 54 lakh involved in 149 audit objections, only Tk 63.76 crore was realised.

The paper recommended that parliamentary standing committees should be chaired by the opposition as much as possible, and there should be no member on a committee linked to conflict of interest to be addressed by that committee.

A committee could be formed to undertake periodic evaluation of the performance of parliamentary committees and their oversight, he said quoting from the TIB report, prepared by Fahreen Alamgir and Tanvir Mahmud.

Other speakers included former adviser to caretaker government Hafizuddin Khan, for mer AL lawmaker MA Mannan, Lt General (Rtd) Mahbubur Rahman, Journalist Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, former DG of the now defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption Badiuzzaman Khan and deputy director of Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre Tapan Kumar Nath.

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