Parliament is an inseparable pillar of democracy and a key power balancer in democratic systems. The legislature is responsible for overseeing the performance of the government beside lawmaking. It is the very authority that can prevent the misuse of power, and public property and assets by the executive branch. This is how their work becomes effective by ensuring transparency in governance, and can defend the rights of their constituents. In Afghanistan, membership of the parliament is viewed as a means to secure unlawful concessions than a responsibility. The majority of parliamentarians act as lawbreakers than lawmakers.
Many members of Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament are exploiting their legal privileges and thinking to be above the law. There are heated discussions about a row between the police and some lawmakers, which prompted Wolesi Jirga to summon the acting interior minister at 11 PM on Friday night. It is the first time in the history of Afghanistan that the parliament summons a minister that quickly and at night. The reason for that is pretty clear: the lawmakers can ask a minister to show up at the house overnight to solve their problems, but they don’t have time even during the day to do so for public grievances, because an overwhelming majority of them are so bogged down in their personal business that they have literally got no time to undertake their legal duties.
Members of the parliament should realize that Afghanistan needs to have a rule of law to achieve stability, as the country and its people have enough paid a heavy price for violations of laws, and therefore can no longer tolerate that. The lawmakers, if they are real representatives of people, must play a significant part in helping Afghanistan move towards rule of law other than becoming barriers. The responsibility of parliamentarians is to make laws and oversee their implementation not violate them. They should not behave as if they have been given an authorization to serve as public representatives for lifetime. People have the opportunity to elect new representatives after five years, and the current lawmakers’ behavior can help people identify the characters of their representatives. Afghans also should have learned a lesson from their experience of electing bad people for Wolesi Jirga, and therefore avoid voting for individuals in the future who break the very laws they make.
