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Lawmakers irked for not being involved in PRSP drafting phase

BDNEWS, Dhaka
Lawmakers yesterday expressed their dissatisfaction for not involving them in the drafting phase of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), a strategy document to alleviate poverty.
"So far my knowledge goes, none of the MPs were consulted or called in the meeting during the preparation of the PRSP draft," said Abdul Alim MP, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the public undertakings, replying to a query of the participant MPs at a workshop on the PRSP.
The workshop on "Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: the Parliamentarians Perspective" was organised by the Strengthening the Parliamentary Democracy project of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Parliament of Bangladesh to obtain the views of the lawmakers.
While the officials of the planning commission said they have sent the
draft copy of the PRSP document by the end of December 2004 to all the members of the parliament, the lawmakers denied receiving such papers.
Against this backdrop, the floor discussion session of the workshop to be participated by the MPs was postponed and fresh date has been fixed for the discussion on May 17 at Sheraton Hotel.
Some 39 MPs of ruling and opposition parties attended Saturday's workshop.
Opposition Chief Whip Abdus Shaheed said, "I am doubtful about the successful implementation of PRSP if there is no active role of the lawmakers."
Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, however, said, "The discussion with the MPs on the PRSP begins from this programme."
Among others, Lt Col Faruk Khan MP, Abdul Mannan MP, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh Jorgen Lissner, Prof
Wahid Uddin Mahmud, Dr Quazi Mesbahuddin Ahmed, Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman spoke.
Taking notes of the social development indicators in Bangladesh, Jorgen Lissner said, "The views of political parties are necessary for making the PRSP goals achievable."
Prof Wahid Uddin Mahmud stressed the need for participation of the MPs as they have the field level experience and expertise.
He also talked about political commitment as well as strengthening of institutional reform of the government for successful implementation of the PRSP.
The workshop recommended some strategies and suggestions, including a special parliamentary committee on the PRSP, linkage with the parliamentary standing committees on various ministries.
The much-talked-about PRSP was scheduled to be finalised by April 15 for starting its implementation from next financial year.