ISLAMABAD, September 17, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Tuesday skipped entire Private Members’ business except question hour due to protest between treasury and opposition lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the sixth session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 25 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1540 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 45 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
- The Leaders of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 20 minutes.
- As many as 48 MPAs (29%) were present at outset and 79 (47%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary Leaders of MMAP, GDA, PPPP, PTI, MQMP and TLP attended the proceedings.
- Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.
Output
- The House did not consider any of the Private Members’ agenda including a Private Members’ bill, a Privilege Motion, an Adjournment Motion, five private resolutions as many private motions, a report of the Standing Committee and 28 notices to amend the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Energy department responded to two out of eight starred questions while the lawmakers asked 10 supplementary questions, as well.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers belonging to PPPP and PTI chanted slogans and exchanged unwarranted remarks against each other’s leadership which disrupt the proceedings for 60 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on September 20, 2019 (Friday) at 1430 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