ISLAMABAD, January 25, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed the Sindh Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill, 2017 on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of proceedings during sixth sitting of 29th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 56 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1123 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to Azaan break.
- The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting as the Speaker did not attend the sitting.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for three hours and nine minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 37 minutes.
- Twenty-three lawmakers (14%) were present at the start and 56 (33%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM and PTI were present.
- Five minority members also attended the sitting.
- Five members applied for leave.
Output
- Introduced by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Sindh Prohibition of Employment of Children Bill, 2017.
- The Senior Minister presented the 2nd Biannual Monitoring Report on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for the period from January-June, 2016 in the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Three out of eight Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 15 Supplementary Questions.
- The House took up four out of six Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance. The remaining two CANs were deferred due to the absence of relevant minister.
- A PPPP lawmaker raised a Matter of Public Importance reading disconnection of electricity supply in his constituency.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on four Points of Order, consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.
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.