ISLAMABAD, November 18, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted its entire business appearing on the ‘Orders of the Day’ on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 28th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 36 hours.
- The sitting started at 1100 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire proceedings.
- The Deputy Speaker attended the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 45 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 40 minutes.
- Forty-eight lawmakers (29%) were present at start and 62 (37%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI were present.
- Four minority members also attended the sitting.
- Nine members applied for leave.
Output
- Tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House referred the Sindh Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking Bill, 2016 to relevant standing committee.
- Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution regarding allocation of jobs quota for qualified people in schools of the province.
- The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presented the first biannual monitoring report on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Awards and a quarterly report on receipt of province for various expenditures.
- The House referred three Audit Reports on various accounts to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Representation and Responsiveness
- Five Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers.
- A lawmaker belonging to PTI withdrew his Adjournment Motion after assurance given by the government. The motion was regarding excessive fee charged by private schools within the province.
- Four out of five Call Attention Notices (CANs) were taken up and responded to by relevant ministers.
- Lawmakers belonging to MQM raised a Matter of Public Importance regarding stoppage of water supply to Hyderabad city. The matter was responded to by the Minister for Local Government.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming 20 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.
