ISLAMABAD, May 2, 2019: The government introduced three legislative proposals in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Thursday including two bills for establishing higher education institutions and a bill for managing public finance, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daly Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 46^th sitting of the fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 36 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1200 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 56 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 attended the proceedings for two hours and 26 minutes.
• As many as 42 lawmakers (25%) were present at commencement and 47 lawmakers (28%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP, MMAP, PTI and MQMP attended the sitting.
• As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output                                                                         

• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Sindh Public Finance Administration Bill, 2019, the Abdul Majeed Bhurgri Institute of Language Engineering Bill, 2019 and the Aror University of Art, Architecture, Design and Heritages, Sukkur, Bill, 2019. The House referred all three bills to the relevant standing committees.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Energy Department answered three out of seven starred questions while the remaining questions were not taken up during the proceedings. In addition, the lawmaker asked 21 supplementary questions.
• The relevant Ministers responded to three out of five Call Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on the agenda. The responded CANs highlighted issues concerning increase in price of medicines, disclosure of intermediate papers before exam day and education planning of the provincial government.
• An Adjournment Motion (AM) of a MQMP lawmaker lapsed due to his absence.
• The Minister for Health responded to a Matter of Public Importance regarding emergence of HIV-AIDS cases in Larkana.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers belonging to GDA, MQMP and PTI staged a token protest and later walked out at 1420 hours against continuing the House proceedings after 1400 hours. According to the Rule 28 of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, the House would meet between 1000 hours and 1400 hours on weekdays during the summer unless the Speaker directs otherwise.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1415 hours which was found completed on the headcount.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on May 3, 2019 (Friday) at 1500 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