| Submit your comments on this article |
| Bangladesh |
| Get law, stop JS boycott |
| 2012-09-16 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Transparency International Bangladesh yesterday called for a law to end the culture of parliament boycott by the opposition. The absence of a party from the House should be restricted to 30 days in a five-year term with no more than seven successive working days, the anti-graft watchdog said. At present, the constitution allows a politician to remain absent from parliament for 90 consecutive sittings before his seat falls vacant, but it says nothing about collective absence. TIB made the demands while unveiling a research work titled "Declaration on Parliamentary Openness" at Brac Centre Inn in the capital. The programme was organised to mark International Day of Democracy. On the same day in Rome, 85 observatory groups from 60 countries, including TI, presented their findings on issues involving parliaments. At the programme in Dhaka, TIB demanded a code of conduct for politicians and a law to prevent conflict of interest. TIB Chairperson Sultana Kamal said parliament proceedings must be made accessible to people to ensure that politicians were accountable. At present, there was no mechanism to ensure their accountability, as people have little access to parliamentary proceedings, she added. |
| Posted by:Fred |