Microphone glitch leaves newly-elected speaker inaudible to MPs
After the election of Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed and Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal, followed by their oath-taking ceremonies, the session began at 12:57pm today (12 March)
The formal session of the 13th Parliament suffered a hiccup at the beginning of the new speaker's tenure due to a technical glitch, but the afternoon call to prayer (Zuhr) spared him further embarrassment.
After the election of Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad and Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal, followed by their oath-taking ceremonies, the session began at 12:57pm today (12 March).
However, the speaker's microphone was not working, creating an awkward situation.
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After repeated attempts to fix the issue, the speaker was finally handed a microphone to speak.
As Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad began to address the House, Md Saiful Alam, an opposition MP elected from Dhaka-12, drew his attention and informed him that the MPs were still unable to hear anything in their earpieces, although he was audible on television.
"After 17 years, we finally have an effective Parliament; it will take some time to fix everything," Hafiz Uddin Ahmad said wryly.
At that moment, the Zuhr call to prayer began, and the newly elected Speaker promptly called for a prayer break, declaring that the session would resume after 20 minutes.
