ISLAMABAD, January 29, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh did not address 87% of the private members’ business scheduled for Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 14th sitting of the fourth session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for two hours and 56 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1133 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and eight minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 36 minutes.
- As many as 72 lawmakers (43%) were present at outset and 59 lawmakers (35%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI and MMAP attended the sitting.
- As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by MQMP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution recommending the provincial government to release prisoners on parole to attend funerals of their relatives. As many as 13 lawmakers debated the resolution for 50 minutes.
- The House did not address the remaining four private members’ resolutions, two private members’ bills, five private motions and nine proposals for amendments to the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Works and Services responded to four out of five Starred Questions while the remaining question was not addressed. The lawmakers asked 23 supplementary questions as well.
- A PPPP lawmaker withdrew her Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding overbilling to electricity consumers by Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) on an assurance by the Minister for Energy that the issue would be resolved.
- A PTI lawmaker withdrew his Question of Privilege (QoP) against a police officer for not acting upon his assurance given to the member. The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs assured the member that he would look into the matter.
- Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted a motion censuring PTI lawmakers for use of derogatory remarks against the Chair during last sitting. As many as eight lawmakers debated the motion for 32 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers belonging to PTI staged a two-minute protest against a treasury lawmaker’s motion which censured them for their yesterday’s protest.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on January 30, 2019 (Wednesday) at 1000 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.