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Parliamentary perks

The government should not be oblivious of the fact that, in a country where boycotting parliament by the opposition has become a culture, increasing parliamentary perks will not help MPs to contribute better.

A.N.M. Nurul Haque
ACCORDING to a newspaper report, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently gave her approval to a proposal for providing full-time cars to 345 MPs instead of continuing the existing privilege of duty-free import of cars. The government has done well to scrap this privilege, which has been a subject of strong public criticism since its introduction in 1987 during the regime of HM Ershad.
Duty-free car privilege was a way of plundering the public exchequer. Many MPs of the previous parliaments brought in 275 luxury cars from abroad, costing the NBRover
Tk.280 crore in tax, and sold them for profit.
The speaker of parliament recently said that MPs would have a rise in their remuneration and allowances, as they are not drawing much. The emoluments of the prime minister, ministers and MPs were increased in 2005 to keep compatibility with the enhancement of salary of the government staff under 6th National Pay Scale.
Now, the MPs are set to get their emolument increased again, following implementation of 7* National Pay Scale for the government staff. One will be really amazed to know that our MPs have had their emolument increased 11 times since independence while the government staff got increase in salary 7 times.
Meanwhile, the MPs have been given individual offices at the old MP's hostel on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises. The speaker said that they would also be provided with offices at upazilas so that they could perform their duties properly. All possible assistance has been provided to them so that they can contribute to the law making process and enrich the proceedings of the House.
Public expectation was that the MPs would perform their parliamentary jobs seriously after getting their new perks. But most of the MPs have failed to fulfill this expectation, and the money spent for their capacity building has been wasted. It is a pity to see the speaker being compelled to adjourn the parliament session because of the lackofquorum.
The people are quite frustrated tycause those whom they elected to speak for them
in the parliament to redress their sufferings are not doing the jobs seriously. Instead, they are making good use of their position to enhance their perks and remuneration at the cost of the common people. Perhaps the day is not too far off when the quest for outrageous perks and privileges will be the focus of parliamentary deliberations instead of legislative works.
The speaker said that MPs would get government vehicles, which they would be able to own in exchange for a token amount after their five-year tenure. Such an act of propitiating the MPs with taxpayers' money is sure to create a bad impression in the people. It is unbelievable that MPs cannot afford cars when many of them had spent crores of taka for winning the election.
MPs across the world enjoy special perks and facilities so that they can serve their people as best as they can. So it makes sense that perks and privileges to our MPs should also be increased to help them perform their public responsibilities more effectively and also to serve their constituents in full measure. But the pertinent question is: Are the perks and privileges they enjoy commensurate with the services they render?
MPs all over the world get travelling allowances for their official tours, but no vehicles from the government. MPs of both houses in Russia have the right to free use of all forms of transportation except taxis. MPs in Australia get a gold pass that allows them free travel on all government railways
throughout the country during their tenure of office.
Parliamentary perks are under media spotlight and public scrutiny in many, countries as they are being abused by many MPs. MPs in UK were found guilty of withdrawing money in excess of their approved limits for painting and decorating their houses. MPs, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, had to return the excess money. MPs in UK were entitled to free parking in airports and railway stations, while they were travelling on business. But their airport car passes were withdrawn to stop them abusing the privilege.
In 1996, the Victorian MPs agreed in a bipartisan decision that they should be entitled to taxpayer-funded cars and have the option of customising them. According to a report, 98 out of 132 MPs had spent at least $220,000 of taxpayers' money in three years for customising their cars. Reader’s Digest, during a wide-ranging investigation of Australian MPs perks unearthed many instances of outrageous perks.
The government should not be oblivious of the fact that, in a country where boycotting parliament by the opposition has become a culture, increasing parliamentary perks will not help MPs to contribute better. To facilitate the proper functioning of parliament, such as the MPs are required to do, their professional quality and parliamentary behaviour must be improved through proper training.
AN.M Nurul Haques a columnist of The DaSy Star