ISLAMABAD, November 22, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh adopted one resolution while most of the Private Members’ agenda remained unaddressed on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of the 28th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and eight minutes.
- The sitting started at 1058 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to a prayer break.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 45 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for one hour and 27 minutes.
- Thirty-five lawmakers (21%) were present at start and 45 (27%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of MQM, PML-F and PTI were present.
- Four minority members also attended the sitting.
- Twelve members applied for leave.
Output
- Tabled by the Opposition Leader, the House unanimously adopted a resolution for not increasing electricity tariff and taxes by K-Electric and NEPRA.
- Four private members’ resolutions appearing on the ‘Orders of the Day’ were not taken up by the House.
- Appearing on the agenda, the Malir Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was not taken up due absence of its mover.
- The House left a report of standing committee and 23 motions for amendments to the Rules of Procedure unaddressed.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Three Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant minister. The lawmakers also asked five Supplementary Questions.
- The Chair rejected an Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding share of Karachiites in the recruitment for Sindh government jobs after discussion of three minutes. The motion was moved by lawmaker belonging to PTI.
- Five Private Motions on various issues appearing on the agenda were not taken up by the House.
Orders and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on three Points of Order consuming six minutes of the proceedings.
- MQM lawmakers protested twice against the attitude of speaker who disallowed them to participate in various parliamentary interventions.
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.