ISLAMABAD, April 30 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh did not take up more than 90 percent of the scheduled Private Members’ Business on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daly Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 45th sitting of the fourth session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 45 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1220 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 20 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 entire sitting.
- As many as 42 lawmakers (25%) were present at commencement and 68 lawmakers (40%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MMAP, PTI and MQMP attended the sitting.
- As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The House referred two private members’ bills including the Sindh Water Management (Amendment) Bill, 2018) and the Control of Narcotic Substances (Sindh Amendment) Bill,2018) to the relevant standing committees. These bills were introduced on January 15, 2019 by lawmakers belonging to MQMP and PTI.
- The House did not address a private member’s bill, five private resolutions, five private motions and 26 proposed amendments in the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Irrigation answered three out of 10 starred questions while the remaining questions were not taken up during the proceedings. In addition, the lawmaker asked 23 supplementary questions.
- The House did not take up the Privilege Motion of a PPPP lawmaker due to his absence.
- The House rejected an Adjournment Motion (AM) of a PTI lawmaker regarding misuse of power by Sindh building control authority.
Order and Institutionalization
- The House was adjourned to meet again on May 2, 2019 (Thursday) 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