Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised a brainstorming meeting with the Members of Parliament (MPs) of Bangladesh Parliament focussing on the “Role of Members of Parliament in Public Financial Management”. The meeting was held in a retreat made on 20 March 2023, in Cox’s Bazar. This event was held under a CPD project titled, “Towards a People Centric Public Financial Management”, implemented with support of the European Union (EU).
The meeting sought to identify challenges faced by the MPs, in discharging their role to ensure effective public financial management. Moreover, it teased out challenges the MPs face in performing their duties in relevant Parliamentary Standing Committees.
The participants in this workshop included 11 honourable MPs from all parties represented in the Bangladesh Parliament, several were chairmen of Parliamentary Standing Committees. The participating MPs belonged to the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure; Standing Committee on Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; Parliamentary Committee on Estimates; Standing Committee on Public Accounts; Standing Committee on Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment; Standing Committee on Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; Standing Committee on Ministry of Commerce; Standing Committee on Ministry of Finance; Standing Committee on Ministry of Social Welfare; Standing Committee on Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Standing Committee on Ministry of Home Affairs; and Standing Committee on Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. The meeting was also attended by high-level officials of the Parliament Secretariat.
This diverse group brought together a wide range of experiences and perspectives, allowing for a rich and productive discussion, with several challenges and issues being highlighted. Issues discussed included, exploring key topics such as the role of legislation in budget preparation, the assessment of budget implementation, and strategies for effective oversight and accountability. The issues and challenges regarding fiscal data in Bangladesh were also discussed.
Important issues that have been brought to the fore include:
- The need for more devolution in terms of allocation of finances, control of expenditure and project design to the local levels of government. The MPs must effectively bridge the gap between the local and central governments in this regard.
- Greater focus must be provided to area-wise demand letters for each upazila and incorporating them into the national budget through established procedures for streamlined and efficient addressing of local needs.
- The Local Governance Support Project (LGSP) empowers rural union parishads by allocating them funds directly, without any spending impositions from the central government. This approach allows for greater autonomy in decision-making, allowing the MPs to collaborate with union parishads to determine which projects require funding the most.
- The availability, accessibility, accuracy and timeliness of fiscal as well as national survey data were brought to attention. Moreover, the need for constituency-wise data was raised for more effective policy formulation at present and for gauging necessary future provisions.
- The discussion stressed the need for staff and amenities to support the Parliamentarians as well as the Parliamentary Standing Committees in discharging their duties efficiently.
- Need to establish a Parliamentary Caucus on data for PFM to provide the Parliamentary Standing Committees with required technical assistance was highlighted.
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, Distinguished Fellow, CPD, moderated the session “Next steps – What can we do?”, and provided opening and concluding remarks during the sessions. Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, CPD, and Mr Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow, CPD, moderated the sessions on “Role of MPs in budget preparation, monitoring implementation and oversight: status and challenges” and “Current data needs of MPs” respectively.
Experts including Mr Ranjit Kumar Chakraborty, Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Mr K. M. Abdus Salam, Senior Secretary, Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat; and representatives from the EU also participated in the proceedings.