Code of conduct for lawmakers

High time we have one, not just on paper but in practice

WE are heartened by MP Saber Hossain Chowdhury's placing of a private member's bill in the parliament seeking to formulate a code of conduct for the lawmakers. Even though there is hardly any precedent of enacting a private member's bill in our context, yet this one merits a special consideration in view of the pressing nature of the need for a code of conduct.

It would be designed to ensure high standards of morality and ethics within and outside the parliament in the discharge of their duties. The high point of the bill appears to be the proposed nine-member ethics committee consisting of representatives from all political parties, presumably somewhat in the likeness of Congressional or House of Commons bipartisan committee. Its job would be to investigate allegations against any lawmakers taken cognisance of from time to time.

This is a very timely move given that conduct of many a member of parliament often gave rise to questions of accountability and transparency that could not be dealt with in the absence of code of conduct. Parliament is the highest and the most exalted institution in the country. As the legislative organ of the state and the ultimate watchdog of governance it's regarded as the fountain-head of moral and ethical values of integrity, honesty, fairplay, justice and benevolence. Therefore, if those who constitute its heart and soul should fail to live up to the highest moral and ethical standards enjoined by their very position then they are basically nullifying their very raison d'être, let alone demeaning the exalted institution they owe their origin to and betraying their trust as elected public representatives.

They should not be known for their power and pelf or an exhibition of the same or indeed for their feel of power and influence by a disdainful abuse of these but by a visible reflection of intellectual and ethical standards in the totality of their conduct. It is a sad commentary on the part of most members' performance and conduct that they behave as merely partisan automatons and spokesmen. Their manifest purpose seems to be a scramble for the party largesse to corner a share of it. They are more adept in promoting their personal interest and patronising their cronies through different capacities they hold ex-officio or insist on holding rather than concentrating on lawmaking and oversight roles that their position entrusts them with.

So we are all for a code of conduct that is underpinned by an effective and doable modus operandi with an in-built mechanism for implementing it. Of course, the best guarantee for an efficacious code of conduct lies in the MPs' own realisation of the need for a binding set of rules and an inner urge to comply with it in their best enlightened interest. Mere adoption of a code and a mechanical going through the motions of it would be adding another frill to the window dressing. The MPs must strive to cultivate the trust and confidence of the people out of a sense of conviction.