ISLAMABAD, January 22, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh did not address 86% of the private members’ business scheduled for Tuesday while adopting a resolution for payment of dues to the retired employees of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during ninth sitting of the fourth session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for two hours and 56 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1120 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 56 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 50 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
- As many as 61 lawmakers (36%) were present at outset and 94 lawmakers (56%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP and MMAP attended the sitting.
- As many as six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by a MQMP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution recommending the provincial government to pay the dues to retired employees of PSM. As many as six lawmakers debated the resolution for 11 minutes.
- The House rejected a PTI lawmaker’s resolution regarding provision of health and medical services in Civil Hospital, Tando Allah Yar. As many as eight lawmakers debated the resolution for 27 minutes.
- The House did not address the remaining three private members’ resolutions, two private members’ bills, nine amendments to the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, and five private motions.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Local Government responded to three out of six Starred Questions while two were questions deferred as the minister was not satisfied with the written answers submitted by his department. The remaining one question was not taken up. The lawmakers asked 16 supplementary questions as well.
- The Chief Minister gave a statement on a PPPP lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion regarding the federal government’s commitment on Karachi’s Circular Railway. He spoke for 21 minutes.
- An Adjournment Motion (AM) of PPPP lawmaker regarding release of funds for K-IV water supply project lapsed due to absence of the mover.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as two lawmakers raised Points of Order (POs) consuming three minutes of the proceedings.
- The lawmakers belonging to PTI staged a two-minute protest when the Chair disallowed the Leader of the Opposition to speak on Chief Minister’s Statement regarding Circular Railway.
- The lawmakers belonging to PTI staged a two-minute protest against a PPPP lawmaker’s criticism on the federal government.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on January 23, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1100 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.