The ruling Awami League lawmakers spent 1,858 minutes in the sessions of the 11th Jatiya Sangsad to praise Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during their participation in the discussions on the vote of thanks to the president’s speech.

Their praise took 19.8 per cent of the total time they spent on the vote of thanks, costing the taxpayers Tk 506 crore, revealed a research by the Transparency International Bangladesh.

The TIB published the findings of the study on parliamentary activities titled ‘Parliament Watch’ in a programme at its Dhanmondi office in Dhaka on Sunday.

The TIB report has presented the financial value of the time based on a calculation of the expenses involved in the management of Jatiya Sangsad, which is approximately Tk 27.26 lakh per minute on average.

In the 232 total working days of the 11th Jatiya Sangsad, 823 hours and 6 minutes were spent, averaging 3 hours and 32 minutes daily, the report said. During the discussions on the vote of thanks to the president›s speech, a total of 186 hours and 26 minutes were spent, which is 25 per cent of the total time of parliamentary proceedings.

Of this, the members of the ruling party used a total of 156 hours and 28 minutes or 86.2 per cent, the main opposition party used 20 hours and 18 minutes or 11.2 per cent, and other opposition parties used 4 hours and 48 minutes or 2.6 per cent.

The report further says that an analysis of the speeches of the AL lawmakers shows a significant amount of time was spent praising the prime minister and various achievements of the government, consuming respectively 19.8 per cent and 19.4 per cent of their time.

It also said while 25 per cent of the time was spent on the discussion of the motion of thanks on the president›s speech, only 16.7 per cent was spent on legislation.

According to the TIB findings, quorum crunch in the 11th Jatiya Sangsad has caused an estimated loss of Tk 89.28 crore.

It also showed that in 2019-20, the UK parliament spent 49.3 per cent time in legislative affairs, while in 2018-19, it was 45 per cent in the 17th Lok Sabha of India.

The TIB prepared the report based on the 11th parliament›s first to 22nd sessions between January 2019 and April 2023. During the period, a total of 744 hours and 13 minutes was spent in parliamentary proceedings.

Excluding the 12 budget-related bills, in total 108 bills were introduced in parliament, of which 96—68 new bills, 26 amendment bills, and 2 repeal bills—were passed.

On average, it took nearly an hour and 10 minutes to pass a bill in parliament, with the minimum time about 28 minutes, and maximum time about 3 hours and 25 minutes.

The report mentioned that the ‘Voter list (amendment) bill, 2020’ was passed in the lowest time and the ‘Appointment of chief election commissioner and other election commissioners bill, 2022’ took the longest time.

A total of 54 hours and 38 minutes were spent due to inadequate quorum, which is 6.5 per cent of the total parliamentary proceedings time.

On average, 14 minutes and 8 seconds were lost due to quorum crisis per working day. The average cost per minute of running the parliament is about Tk 2.72 lakh. Estimated financial value of the total time spent due to quorum crisis was nearly Tk 89.28 crore, the report said.

About the educational qualification of the lawmakers of the 11th parliament, the TIB report said a significant proportion of the members (41.1%) hold postgraduate degree, while 12 members are self-educated and one member is literate.

It said that the majority of members—62.3 per cent—are businessmen, which was 59 per cent in the 10th parliament and 57 per cent in the 9th parliament.

The recommendations that the TIB has made in the report includes, among others, holding of the national parliament election in a participatory, fair and impartial manner and creating environment in parliament for the opposition to play a strong role.

It also recommended that Article 70 of the Constitution should be amended allowing the lawmakers to express their opinions freely and giving them the opportunity to vote according to their own discretion in all areas except for the no-confidence vote against their own party and the budget.

TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said the overwhelming majority of the ruling party led to a predominance of unilateral power practice in parliamentary activities, which is one of the major hurdles for having an effective parliament.

Jatiya Party as the main opposition played a dual role in parliamentary activities, showing a shortfall in playing a significant role in making the parliament effective, he added.

He said parliament boycotts have massively reduced in the last two parliaments, but for that the nation had to pay dearly.

‘Last two parliament sessions were without opposition. Opposition-less parliament has become a culture,’ he added.

TIB researchers Rabeya Akter Konika and Mohammad Abdul Hannan Shakhider conducted the research.