ISLAMABAD, March 01, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted two resolutions amid low attendance of lawmakers during 20th sitting of its ongoing 23rd session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and four minutes.
- The sitting started at 1109 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- Thirty (18%) lawmakers were present at the start and 68 (41%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 43 minutes while the remaining proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 51 minutes.
- The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for an hour and 48 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PML-N were present.
- Five minority members attended the sitting.
Output
- Tabled by PPPP lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a resolution about furnishing first aid training in schools and colleges of Sindh.
- Another private resolution tabled by MQM member about starting Security and Community Services in educational institutes of the province was also adopted by the House.
- Three private resolutions appearing on the agenda were not taken up by the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Five out of six starred questions appearing on the agenda received oral reply from the government. In addition, lawmakers asked 31 supplementary questions.
- An Adjournment Motion submitted by MQM member regarding shortage of medicines in government hospitals at Hyderabad was opposed by the government and the Speaker rejected the motion after debate on it for 28 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on seven Points of Order consuming 12 minutes of the proceeding.
- MQM lawmakers protested within the House for one minute against the Speaker who rejected a motion moved by one of their party member about introducing a private member bill.
Transparency
- “Orders of the Day” was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was available to the observers and the public
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.