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Dr. Fehmida Mirza’s
Election
as
the
New
Speaker:
Election of Dr. Fehmida Mirza as the new Speaker of the National
Assembly on March 19 has once again highlighted the liberal
political outlook of the country as a whole although Pakistan, as a
self respecting nation, does not need a certificate of
‘enlightenment’ and ‘moderation’ from any one within the country or
outside. Dr. Fehmida Mirza, unlike some of her female colleagues, is
not a proxy for a male member of her family. She is a
directly-elected member who manages her politics like her
agriculture and industry quite independently. Speaker of the
National Assembly carries a high degree of domestic and
international visibility. The speaker represents the country at
international platforms such as the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary
Union (IPU) and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), with
significant scope to project the country. Some years ago when Dr.
Najma Heptollah was elected as the Deputy Chairperson of the Indian
Rajiya Sabha, she was an instant hit with the west and was given a
great deal of importance at the international forums. She went on to
be elected as the President of the IPU. Dr. Mirza, probably the
first Muslim lady to be elected as a presiding officer of a
legislature, is expected to be very warmly received in the
parliamentary circles around the world. She will be in a strong
position to establish the supremacy and primacy of the Parliament in
the political system of Pakistan as she is expected to receive much
more attention and far greater support from international
institutions than possibly a male Speaker could have mustered.
Despite this apparent advantage and the strong support of more than
2/3rd of the total assembly members, she will be rated on
the basis of how she conducts herself as the Speaker and how she
runs the house. She will also be judged by her conduct towards the
opposition. In the past many of her predecessors like Mr. Yusuf Raza
Gilani and Mr. Gohar Ayub stood up to their own party leadership
while accommodating legitimate concerns of the opposition. Mr. Gohar
Ayub ordered the production of a jailed Asif Zardari in the house
drawing ire from Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the party Chief and the Prime
Minister at that time. Will Dr. Fahmida Mirza be able to establish
herself as an independent and assertive Speaker only time may tell.
But if she plans to establish the supremacy of the National
Assembly, as she has announced in her very first Press Conference,
she needs to start NOW. Besides tackling some imminent challenges,
the agenda for the supremacy of the Parliament needs to be pursued
in parallel. Here is our suggestion of what should be the first
100-day Agenda for the Supremacy of the Parliament.
The
first
100 Days
Agenda for
the
Supremacy
of
the
Parliament:
1.
Parliament’s Role in Passing the Budget be Enhanced:
Currently the parliament and more specifically the National assembly
plays only a ritualistic role in shaping and influencing the
country’s budget. Beaurocracy leads the budget-making effort with
some input by the Finance Minister if he happens to be an assertive
and capable person. Assembly is used merely to give MNAs the sense
of participation. The Parliamentary budget process in Pakistan lasts
merely 10 to 20 days with no role of the committees in scrutinising
the demands for grants. There is no mechanism to invite the MNAs
input to the budget making ahead of time. The entire country goes
into the pre-budget seminar frenzy but peoples representatives get
no chance to tell the executive how should the country’s budget look
like. Unfortunately the new Speaker and the new Government is taking
over at a time when only a little over 2 months are remaining before
the budget is presented in the assembly. It is recognised that there
is not sufficient time to revise the budget process this year. But a
symbolic beginning can be made by giving at least 3 days to the
standing committees to scrutinize the demands for grants of their
respective ministries and submit reports to the full house. A more
substantial change such as increase in the period of budget debate
and a pre-budget mechanism to get MNAs input to the Annual
Development Programme and the budget in general may be introduced
well before the budget session of 2009. Indian and Canadian models
of the parliamentary budget process may serve as good examples to
learn from.
2.
Bring the Defence Budget within the Purview of the Parliament:
The
current practice is to just give one lumpsum figure allocated to the
national defence in the budget documents. No detail is provided; not
even the distribution among three branches of the armed forces. It
should be clear to everybody that national security is not
compromised at all by giving the basic details. Indian Defence
Budget may serve as a good example. The Defence Budget in India is
not only a part of their budget documents, it can also be seen by
the public at Indian Government’s website too. An early dialogue
should be initiated with all concerned to ensure that a beginning is
made in this respect this year. Beaurocratic
lethargy and protecting them from public accountability is the only
reason why Defence Budget details are not provided. They just hide
behind the argument of national security.
3.
Give
Proportionate Slots of Committee Chairs to the Opposition:
The
last National Assembly set a bad precedent by keeping the chairs of
all standing committees within the ruling coalition. The committee
chairs should be offered to the opposition in the same proportion as
is their strength in the house. It may be asking for too much but
perhaps it is not if we suggest that the chairmanship of the Public
Accounts Committee should always go to the opposition. If this is
too radical, a consensus chair like the one found during the last
assembly in the person of Malik Allah Yar may be found.
4.
Draw
a Parliamentary Calendar, Publicise it and Make Everyone Follow it:
Although the National assembly rules require that a parliamentary
calendar be approved early on, it is rarely followed and respected.
The calendar should be on the National assembly website and, except
for real emergencies or requisitioned sessions which can not be
predicted, the assembly should strictly follow the calendar.
5.
Legislative Performance Requires Urgent Improvement:
The
12th National Assembly passed 50 laws during the 5-year
term compared to 73 ordinances (146 % of the laws passed by the
assembly) issued by the President. In contrast, Indian Lok Sabha
passed 248 laws compared to just 34 presidential ordinances (less
than 14 % of the laws passed by Lok Sabha) in 5 years. About 140
laws were pending with the National Assembly and its various
committees when the 12th National Assembly completed its
term and dissolved in history. Some laws like the Money Laundering
Bill or the National Human Rights Commission Bill were pending with
the Assembly for many years. This is a rather unenviable record of
legislative performance. The constitutional provision of
presidential ordinances should be used only in real emergencies and
acts of parliament should surely outnumber the ordinances by an
order of 10 to 1 if not more. The new speaker should more
aggressively monitor the performance of the assembly and its
committees on this count and encourage her colleagues to enhance
their legislative output.
6. Increase
the Real Days of Assembly Meetings and Prime Minister’s Involvement:
The
original 1973 constitution provided that the National Assembly
should meet for a minimum of 160 days in a year. This number was
later revised downward and now the Assembly is requited to meet for
130 days minimum in a year. But, in fact, the Assembly met for just
77 work days per year on the average during the last 5 years. The
assembly met for about 2.5 hours per working day on the average.
This certainly needs improvement. In a parliamentary democracy, the
parliament remains in session all the year round except for
well-defined breaks. That is how the parliament ensures its
supremacy. A parliament can not be taken seriously in absentia. The
Speaker should encourage the new Prime Minister to make it a habit
to regularly attend the assembly when it is in session. The Prime
minister should use the floor of the assembly for making all
important statements or announcements. The Speaker should also
encourage her colleagues to amend the Assembly Rules of Procedure
and Conduct of Business to provide for a weekly Question Period (say
30 minutes) for the Prime Minister. Prime Minister’s greater
involvement in the proceedings of the Assembly will go a long way in
strengthening the institution and establishing its supremacy.
7. Create
a Petitions Committee or make Petitions Aspect of the Standing
Committees Well Known:
Strong and active parliaments draw their strength from a close and
direct link with the people. An interesting aspect of this linkage
is the Petitions Committee of the Parliament which invites, receives
and processes the complaints sent by the people about any thing
under the sun. Germany and India can be cited two examples of such
an arrangement. Although all standing committees in our assembly may
act as petition committees in their respective area of work, this
aspect of the committees has remained dormant to date and needs to
be strengthened. The Chief Justice
of Pakistan endeared him to the people of Pakistan by inviting
public complaints and then taking suo-moto
action on them. In fact, the Parliament is a more appropriate forum
to receive such petitions.
8.
Punctuality and Decorum:
The
National Assembly sittings suffered delays sometime by the hours
during the past 5 years. Its sittings seldom started in time. The
Honourable Speaker may start a glorious tradition to be in the house
herself on the dot at the appointed time and start proceedings. This
will set the tone of the 13th assembly and will serve as
a great example to the society at large. Sometime there is an air of
casualness among the honourable members during the proceedings of
the house. Members are sometimes seen engaged in prolonged greetings
and conversations right in the middle of the Assembly proceedings.
The former Prime Minister had developed a routine of holding
meetings with his party members, receiving their applications and
affixing his comments on them right during the assembly proceedings
while sitting in the house and members took their turns in sittings
next to him to present their cases. This is a clear disrespect of
the house and the Speaker should not allow this to happen.
9.
Transparency:
Almost all aspects of the assembly proceedings should be open to the
public unless, of course, special circumstances warrant otherwise.
It is a pity that the verbatim record of the assembly proceedings
including the question hour is not accessible to public despite the
fact the assembly staff takes great pains to produce such record.
The Honourable Speaker should pass immediate instructions and
provide necessary resources to the IT department of the assembly to
upload all verbatim record including Question Hour on the Assembly
website. The Election Commission IT Department has made tremendous
improvement in its transparency recently and there is no reason why
the most important institution of the state i.e the National
Assembly can not make its website the prime vehicle of its
transparency and public accessibility in line with the IPU
guidelines.
10.
Support to Parliamentary Committees:
Most
of the Standing Committees of the assembly lack independent research
support and have to rely on the findings and brief of the executive.
Each Committee must have at least one subject specialist and two
research staff. The next assembly budget must make a provision for
this staff. Without effective committees, the dream of parliamentary
supremacy can not be realised.
Simultaneously, the coming Government can draw strength from the
assembly by bringing all policy matters before the house for debate.
No one can quarrel with the elected executive’s right to make
decisions on behalf the people but a participatory debate and
oversight can not only improve the quality of decisions, it can also
help the government in standing up to the external pressures in a
much better way. |
