ISLAMABAD, December 17, 2012: Starting 35 minutes late, the 4th sitting of the ongoing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s 29th session continued to witness absence of ministers. However, all starred questions (requiring oral replies) were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries.
The sitting, which met for 131 minutes, was also marked by the low attendance as 28 out of the total membership -124- were present at the outset and 36 were there at the adjournment.
Additionally, the chief minister and the leader of the opposition, and the parliamentary leaders of PMLN, PML and PPPP remained absent.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The KP Assembly met for two hours and 11 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1635 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours. The proceedings started late by 35 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present during the sitting.
- The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition remained absent.
- Only the parliamentary leader of PPPS was present while those of PPPP, PML and PMLN remained absent.
- Twenty-eight members were present at the outset while 36 were there at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 45 were present at one point of the sitting.
- One minority member was present.
- Fourteen members applied for leave.
- The house took a 38-minute break.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Although the relevant minister for the rota day was not present, all (11) starred questions (requiring oral replies) appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded. Additionally, 11 supplementary questions were asked.
- Two calling attention notices about regularization of doctors appointed on adhoc basis, and request to make appointments of teachers in schools DI Khan were taken up.
Output
- The KPK Standard Weight Measures Enforcement Amendment Bill 2012 was introduced and sent to the standing committee for further discussions. While the KPK Payment of Wages Bill 2012 was not taken up.
Order and Institutionalization
- Seven points of order were raised which consumed 23 minutes of the sitting time. None of the points of order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
- There was no instance of protests, boycotts or walkouts.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day were available to the legislators, observers and others.
- The members’ attendance was not made public.
- The quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting. However, it was not pointed out by any of the legislators.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of KP Assembly proceedings conducted by PAIMAN Alumni Trust, a member organization of FAFEN