DHAKA, 10 October 2003 — The executive should remain constantly responsive and accountable to the legislature under a parliamentary system of government, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegates told a workshop here yesterday.
To attain the objective, they said, parliamentary committees should be strengthened to ensure their proper role in the context of legislature’s relationship with the executive in a democratic setup.
The workshop titled “Parliament and the Executive: Building a More Effective Partnership,” was organized as part of the ongoing 49th CPA conference in Dhaka.
Addressing the workshop as the lead speaker, Indian Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi said: “The Parliament is supreme and its relationship with the executive is not one of equal partners. Instead of looking for a more effective partnership, we should rather seek more effective relationship between the Parliament and the executive.”
Joshi said parliamentary surveillance on behalf of the people is an effective medium to ensure more efficient public management of the state.
Botswana Local Government Minister Michael Tshipinary, who presided over the workshop, said the executive still remained much more powerful than Parliament in many countries. “The standing committees of parliament should work more effectively at the desired level.”
Meanwhile, identifying erratic power supply as a major obstacle to attracting investment in Bangladesh, a member of the British House of Lords yesterday said the country could improve the power sector efficiency utilizing British expertise. Lord Swaraj Paul, also chairman of Caparo Group, a leading British industrial conglomerate, said Bangladesh could bring in more foreign investment by removing the deficiencies in the power sector.
Suggesting Bangladesh to take required services from British power companies he said, they offer full range of services - from equipment supply, design and consultancy up to managing and operating the supplied equipment. “British reputation in the power sector is renowned and well-established,” the tycoon said while addressing the members of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In another development, Bangladesh has invited applications from internationally reputed consultancy firms for the “wholesale restructuring” of the two large nationalized commercial banks (NCBs) — Sonali and Janata. The consultants will be appointed by June next year for a period of 36 months and will “suggest and help” the managing directors of the Sonali Bank and Janata Bank in managing and overseeing day-to-day operations, according to a Finance Ministry document.
However, the ministry sources said in Dhaka yesterday, the experts’ team will have their say on every issue of the bank from hiring and firing people to credit management. “The team will devise a plan and the managing director will only execute it,” a top source of the Finance Ministry said.
The NCB restructuring plan and appointing consultants is part of World Bank-IMF conditions and it will be implemented under a project styled — Enterprise Growth and Bank Modernization. Earlier, the government short-listed consulting firms to take over the management of another NCB Rupali Bank and restructure Agrani Bank.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh, named this week as the world’s most corrupt nation, has forced 302 police officers into early retirement amid reported allegations of links with criminals against them, an official said yesterday.
The Home Ministry official, who would not be named, said the officers were this week forced into early retirement but denied the action was related to a report by Transparency International that named Bangladesh as the nation with the most perceived public sector corruption for the third straight year.
The Daily Star newspaper reported there were allegations of corruption and “maintaining cozy links with criminals” against the 302 officers ranging from constables to inspectors. The index released Tuesday in Berlin highlights corruption among public officials and politicians as perceived by business leaders, academics and risk analysts.
There has been no formal government statement on the report so far, but it was dismissed outright by outspoken Finance Minister Saifur Rahman. “It is not correct to condemn a nation on the basis of some unproven allegations reported by newspapers and the general impressions of some people,” Rahman was quoted as saying by the Daily Star. Rahman did say, however, that the government would look into it.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s archrival and main opposition leader Hasina Wajed used the TI report to justify her claims that the Islamist-allied government was involved in widespread corruption.
—With additional input from agencies
