ISLAMABAD, March 1, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh addressed most of its agenda on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 25th sitting of fourth session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 50 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1620 hours, an hour and 20 minutes later than the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 40 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 was present for two hours and 10 minutes.
- As many as 70 lawmakers (41%) were present at outset and 59 lawmakers (35%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of TLP, MMA, PTI and PPPP attended the sitting.
- As many as six of the nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- Tabled by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House reapproved the Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019. It was returned by the Governor for reconsideration.
- The Speaker announced the consent of the Governor to the Code of Civil Procedure (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2018; the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Sindh Local Government (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Chair disallowed a PTI lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion seeking discussion on rising trend of suicide in Thar amid poverty, malnutrition and health-sector crisis. The motion was opposed by the government.
- The Minister for Women Development responded to four out of six Starred Question while remaining two questions were not taken up. In addition, the lawmakers asked 24 supplementary questions.
- The concerned provincial ministers responded to four Calling Attention Notices (CANs) highlighting misuse of power by a member of Sindh Public Service Commission, death of five children along with their aunt in Karachi, problems due to stray dogs in Karachi and poor condition of sewerage system in PS-122 Karachi.
- Of the remaining four CANs, two were deferred due to absence of relevant ministers, one lapsed due to mover’s absence while another was left unaddressed.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as three lawmakers spoke on points of order for six minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on March 4, 2019 (Monday) at 1400 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to legislators, observers and the 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.