11th Parliament: limited to yes-no

Fifty parliamentary standing committees were formed within 10 days of the commencement of the 11th Parliament, 39 of them belong to different ministries and the remaining 11 have been formed based on the nature of their work. Although the committees were formed hastily, most of them have not seen much activity in the last three years.

Parliamentary committees are required to hold at least one meeting a month, review the operations of ministries and, if necessary, investigate irregularities and corruption. Most of these committees are not following these rules. Due to the Corona virus epidemic, many committees did not sit for more than a year. Till August this year, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts has held a maximum of 119 meetings, while among ministry-related committees, the Standing Committee on Shipping Ministry has held a maximum of 60 meetings.

In addition, the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism held 80 meetings, the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs held 39 meetings, the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change held 38 meetings, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs The Standing Committee held 37 meetings. Standing Committee on Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief 35, Standing Committee on Ministry of External Affairs 34, Standing Committee on Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports 32, Standing Committee on Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs 32 and Standing Committee on Ministry of Home Affairs 30 meetings. On the other hand, the Government Assurances Committee was active in the committees constituted on the nature of work and this committee held 34 meetings.

Apart from these, there were clearly ministry-wise committees including Standing Committee on Ministry of Finance, Standing Committee on Ministry of Food, Standing Committee on Ministry of Land, Standing Committee on Ministry of Commerce, Standing Committee on Ministry of Posts, Telecom and Information Technology. inactive as none of these committees held even 30 meetings in the last five years.

These committees hardly investigated the irregularities and corruption of the ministries. Irregularities in the health sector came into limelight during the coronavirus pandemic, but the relevant parliamentary committees neither held meetings nor investigated them.

The country is facing a long-standing economic crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, but the Standing Committee on Finance has never discussed it and held only 11 meetings in the last five years. There was no discussion on essential prices even in the Standing Committee of the Ministry of Commerce.

MPs also participated less in parliamentary committees. Records of 128 meetings of 10 parliamentary standing committees last year revealed that only two meetings were attended by all the members of the respective committees. A total of 105 MLAs were members of these 10 committees, and 36 of them attended less than half the meetings of their respective parliamentary standing committees.

Nizam Uddin, a parliament researcher and former professor at the University of Chittagong, said neither the current parliament plays an effective role in making laws nor in ensuring accountability of the government. He told Prothom Alo that the reason for this is the absence of real opposition and no parliament can be effective without opposition.

This report appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna

Spread the love

We may earn a commission if you click on the links within this article. Learn more.