THE PPP is now in Opposition. It has named its members of Parliament, but they are yet to take up their seats in Parliament. Instead the party has kept up a daily barrage of criticisms of the Government—some of it quite baseless. At one level, that is part of the job of the Opposition. The trouble is that that is not the only job the Opposition has to do. In a proper democracy, the Opposition is supposed to be the primary check on the Government by serving as the eyes and ears of the people. While some of that could be done outside of the formal system, a more effective oversight has to be done within the formal institutions.
This is where sitting in the National Assembly becomes crucial. It is the highest decision making body in our political system. Outside of the executive branch, it is the next arena for timely contestation of Government actions. It is where the Opposition gets to ask questions and, through the sectoral committees, gets to engage Government policies very closely. While the judicial branch is also a source of oversight, this is usually a point of last resort, in most cases after the fact. So by not entering the Parliament, the PPP is shirking its national responsibility. But it is also ceding a critical arena to the Government.
Of course there is no law that forces the PPP to take up its seats in Parliament. There are sanctions if the party misses a certain number of consecutive sittings. But parties have found ways to manipulate that system. We hear that the PPP is likely to show up for the reading and debate of the budget. We do not hold our breath; they have signalled their intention before, only to stay away.
What the PPP hopes to achieve by staying away is known only to that party. It is yet to present any credible reason for its boycott. It initially charged that the elections were rigged against it, and in the process, dubbed the Coalition a “de facto” Government. It started marches and pickets, but these seem to have been shelved. In fact, they never really picked up steam. Outside of the PPP leadership, very few PPP supporters paid them any mind.
Now the party stands on the sidelines and throws darts at the Government. A lot of it is in bad taste. Mr. Rohee’s recent attack on Professor Clive Thomas was the latest. Charging Prof Thomas with the breakup of Globe Trust was simply not true. Mr. Rohee must know this. Yet, as he often does, he shoots from his mouth with little regard for the truth. Such politics do not belong in a civilised country.
While they have been out of Parliament, the PPP has been quite busy in the courts. They have filed their election petition and have asked the court to intervene in at least two other matters. It is good to see the courts being asked to intervene. But is the PPP interested in genuine judicial review, or is it using the courts to maliciously frustrate the Government from effectively doing its job? If the latter is true, then the Opposition party cannot be proud of itself.
If the courts are being deliberately used for narrow partisan ends rather than to pronounce on the law and the actions of the other two branches, then this calls into question the very integrity of Government itself. Of course the court should not allow itself to be a political football by Government nor Opposition. This is one area of our political process that needs to be looked at. More than the other two, the judicial branch needs to be seen to be impartial.