"If voters do not keep themselves away from voting, then why will the lawmakers be out of the House?" Lissner said at an international workshop on "Parliamentary Committees in Westminster Systems: Lessons for Bangladesh," in Dhaka.

The UNDP official was critical of the existing provision for cancellation of a lawmaker's membership in Bangladesh that says a lawmaker loses his membership for 90 consecutive days' absence in the House. "Ninety days is too long," he said.

Main opposition Awami League lawmakers at the workshop demanded that the opposition members should be given chairmanship of the parliamentary committees proportionately to the number of their seats in parliament.

They said many countries are now practising this in order to ensure effective scrutiny of the government functioning by the parliamentary watchdog bodies.

Chairmen of different parliamentary standing committees as well as lawmakers from both the treasury and opposition benches participated in the workshop, organised under the UNDP-sponsored "Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy" project.

Speaker Jamiruddin Sircar addressed the inaugural session, which was chaired by Chief Whip Khandaker Delwar Hossain.

On the parliamentary committee system of Bangladesh that allows one committee to look into the matters of a particular ministry, Lissner said it is better for the committees to work for different sectors. "Committees should work comprehensively on issues as a macro-management system," he said.

Opposition Chief Whip Abdus Shaheed, responding to Lissner's statement after the inaugural session said, "Lissner has tabled irrelevant issues in this programme, which are beyond the UNDP resident mission's jurisdiction."

"Participation of the opposition is not an agenda [in the workshop] and we are here to discuss how to strengthen the parliamentary committee system," Shaheed said. He said the opposition boycotts parliament as they are not allowed to speak in the House.

Speaker Sircar, while presiding over a plenary session, urged the opposition to join the House and make it functional.

He referred to a recent amendment to the Rules of Procedures and said, "We have taken the decision to form parliamentary standing committees by the third sitting of any new parliament." In the past, it took about two years to form the committees.

Sircar said the ministries should consider the recommendations of standing committees thoroughly as these watchdog bodies ensure transparency and accountability of the government, its cabinet and also of the bureaucrats.

The speaker, however, identified some weaknesses in making recommendations by the parliamentary committees. "Sometimes we lack expertise in the subject matter and sometimes the recommendations are not taken unanimously," he said.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Abdul Hamid, while presiding over the afternoon session said chairmanship of some parliamentary committees should be offered to the opposition bench so that they can scrutinise government activities more effectively.

Hamid suggested allowing the media at the parliamentary committee meetings.

Chief Whip Delwar Hossain stressed the role of the main opposition in making the House functional and strengthening the committee system. "How will we make the system functional without making the House effective?"

At the workshop, experts from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India presented papers on the parliamentary committee systems in their respective countries.

BNP lawmaker Barrister Ziaur Rahman Khan tabled a paper on the parliamentary committees in Bangladesh.

David Butcher, a former deputy minister and lawmaker of New Zealand, who presented a paper on 'Committees of Parliament: New Zealand examples,' said the opposition lawmakers in his country chair a number of committees.

Dr VK Bhatnagar, speaking on a parliamentary committee system in India, said parliamentary standing committees in India play a significant role in ensuring government's accountability.

"A senior opposition lawmaker heads the Public Accounts Committee in India," he mentioned.

Prof John Power placed a paper titled 'Parliamentary committees and the Westminster model: has Australia gone too far?' and Linda Buchanan on "Parliamentary committees: the democratic process and institutional support in the Canadian House of Commons."

During the three plenary sessions, Bangladeshi lawmakers asked the foreign experts about the committees' functioning in their countries. The experts replied that the committees are just a recommending body in their countries, but that the government considers their recommendations with the utmost importance.