ISLAMABAD, February 17, 2020: The government introduced four legislative proposals in the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Monday amidst protest by the opposition parties against the ministerial absence, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 11th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for 51 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 21 minutes due to protest.
- The sitting started at 1432 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting in absence of the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of Opposition attended the entire proceedings.
- As many as 40 (26%) legislators were present at the start and 50 (34%) at the end of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MMAP and BAP attended the sitting.
- Three out of four minority members were present.
Output
- The Ministers for Law and Finance laid the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Stamp (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 in the House.
- The Ministers for Law and Local Government introduced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Galiyat Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House did not take up Privilege Motions, Adjournment Motions and Call Attention Notices due to the opposition’s protest.
Order and Institutionalization
- The opposition parties protested against the ministerial absence and the government’s attitude towards the House business. The protest continued for 14 minutes.
- Initially, the Chair suspended the proceedings for 21 minutes due to the protest. However, the protest continued on the resumption of the proceedings at 1515 hours that led the Chair to adjourn the House till February 18, 2020 (Tuesday) at 1400 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceeding conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted