ISLAMABAD, December 10, 2012: Starting 47 minutes late, the first sitting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s 29^th session met for an hour and 33 minutes witnessing low attendance of Members, as only 30% of the total Membership – 124 – were present at the outset and 36% at the adjournment of the sitting.

The House unanimously adopted a Resolution calling for implementation of Supreme Court orders about the payment of standard salaries to the newspaper workers.

Fourteen Points of Order were raised which consumed 59 minutes (63% of the total time). None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling, it does not lead to any assembly’s output.

The Chief Minister, along with the parliamentary leaders of PML and PPPS did not attend the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The KP Assembly met for an hour and 33 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1547 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1500 hours. The proceedings started late by 47 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML and PPPP were present while those of PMLN and PPPS were absent.
• Thirty-seven Members (30% of the total Membership – 124) were present at the outset while 45 (36%) were there at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 53 (43%) Members were present at one point of the sitting.
• Five Members applied for leave.
•  One minority Member was present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Question Hour was not held.

 

Output

• A Resolution calling for implementation of Supreme Court orders about payment of standard salaries to the newspaper workers was adopted.
• Two bills – the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority Bill 2012 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Payment of wages Bill 2012 – were introduced and sent to the relevant Standing Committees.
• The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Transplantation Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2012 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Elimination of Custom of Ghag Ordinance 2012 were presented to the House.

Order and Institutionalization

• Fourteen Points of Order were raised which consumed 59 minutes (63% of the total time). None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling, it does not lead to any assembly’s output.
• There were no instances of protest, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The Members’ attendance was not made public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting. However, it was not pointed to by any of the legislators.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of KP Assembly proceedings conducted by PAIMAN Alumni Trust, a member organization of FAFEN