ISLAMABAD, March 4, 2019: The opposition lawmakers in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh protested on Monday against the treasury’s decision to keep the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee with itself, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daly Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 26^th sitting of the fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for two hours and 58 minutes.

• The sitting started at 1545 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours; however, the proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to Azan break.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 43 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 sitting for an hour and 14 minutes.
• As many as 40 lawmakers (24%) were present at commencement and 48 lawmakers (29%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP, TLP and MMAP attended the sitting.
• As many as six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
• The House approved the leave of absence of a lawmaker.

Output                                                                         

• The Chair announced the Governor’s assent to the Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology Bill, 2018.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Ministers responded to six out of seven Starred Questions while the remaining four questions were disposed of due to the absence of movers. The lawmakers asked 34 supplementary questions as well.
• The Ministers for Local Government and Universities & Boards responded to three Calling Attention Notices (CANs) highlighting the delipidated condition of Korangi road in Karachi, registration of Pharmacy Department of Shah Abdul Latif University, and shortage of water in Karachi. The House did not take up the remaining four CANs due to absence of the concerned lawmakers.
• The House did not take up an Adjournment Motion regarding devolving the political, administrative and financial responsibilities and powers to the local government representatives.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as nine lawmakers raised Points of Order (POs) consuming 32 minutes of the proceedings.
• The lawmakers belonging to the opposition staged a 10-minute protest against the depriving the opposition of the Public Account Committee’s (PAC) chairmanship. The protesting lawmakers walked out from the proceedings at 1740 hours and did not return to the House till its adjournment.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on March 4, 2019 5, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1400 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.