ISLAMABAD, July 24, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh 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 on Friday. Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the second sitting of the 11th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 30 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1600 hours against the scheduled time of 1430 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire proceedings.
- The Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and five minutes.
- As many as 36 MPAs (21%) were present at the outset and 67 (40%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MMA and TLP attended the sitting.
- As many as five out of nine minority lawmakers were also present.
Output
- The House did not consider any of the Private Members’ agenda including five Private Members’ bill, a Privilege Motion, an Adjournment Motion, five private resolutions and as many private motions, a report of the Standing Committee, a privilege motion and 22 notices to amend the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up two out of 17 starred questions while lawmakers also asked 13 supplementary questions.
- Minister for Energy gave a statement on energy related issues for 11 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers belonging to PPPP and PTI chanted slogans and exchanged unwarranted remarks against each other’s leadership for five minutes when the opposition leader was disallowed to speak during the statement of Minister for Energy. Their protest disrupted the proceedings and the Chair announced to adjourn the House to meet again on July 27, 2020 (Monday) at 1200 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