ISLAMABAD, January 4, 2022: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) passed two government bills and adopted one resolution on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 29th sitting of 20th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 12 minutes.
- The sitting started at 02:50 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
- The speaker presided over the entire proceedings.
- The deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.
- The leaders of the House (chief minister) and the opposition were not present.
- As many as 33 MPAs (23 percent) were present at the outset and 32 (22 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- Parliamentary leader of PML-N was present.
- Two out of four minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The House passed two government bills including and the KP Science, Technology and Innovation Endowment Fund Bill, 2021 and the KP Deserving Artists Welfare Endowment Fund Bill, 2021.
- Another bill – the KP Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – was deferred.
- Tabled by a PML-N lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution to ensure implementation on a resolution adopted by the House on March 21, 2014. The resolution adopted earlier was about creation of new units including Hazara within the ambit of Constitution with the objective of easing administrative affairs.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up four out of seven starred questions while the remaining three questions were lapsed due to absence of relevant lawmakers. In addition, lawmakers asked four supplementary questions.
- An adjournment motion on the agenda was deferred.
- A privilege motion of PTI lawmaker against Deputy Commissioner South Waziristan was referred to the relevant committee.
- The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs) regarding admission policy of Khyber Medical University and fine imposed by an Assistant Commissioner Samar Bagh on a person for cutting forest wood.
- The House did not debate an adjournment motion which was regarding missing record of Rs. 43 billion announced during last three fiscal years for merged tribal districts
Order and Institutionalization
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 03:00 pm following which the sitting remained suspended for 20 minutes. She again pointed out the quorum at 04:59 pm which led to the adjournment of the sitting.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, January 7, 2022 at 10:00 am.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available for the legislators, observers and the media.
- Attendance of the lawmakers was not available for the observers and the media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceedings conducted by the United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted