ISLAMABAD, February 20, 2017: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly was adjourned on Monday without addressing its regular business that also included discussion on cabinet members’ absence from the proceedings of House, observed Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are some key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of 23rd session:
Members’ Participation
- The KP Assembly met for 49 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1655 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- Fifty lawmakers (40%) were present at the start and 45 (36%) at the end of sitting.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- Deputy Speaker did not attend the sitting.
- The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present.
- Parliamentary leaders of JI and ANP were present.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
Output
- The House adopted a resolution to condemn recent incidents of terrorism in the country and demanded the federal provincial governments to take strict measures against terrorists. Eight lawmakers – two of JI and one each of JUI-F, ANP, QWP, PTI, PML-N and PPPP – discussed the resolution for 15 minutes.
- The House did not take up the KP Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House left unaddressed two motions for discussion on increasing provincial debt and disinterest of Provincial Ministers, Advisors, Special Assistant and Parliamentary Secretaries in the House Proceedings.
- The House adopted a motion to constitute the Committee on Petitions.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on three Points of Order consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
- A PTI lawmaker staged a walkout at 1711 hours over differences with provincial government. He did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and other stakeholders.
- The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceedings conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted