ISLAMABAD, March 18, 2022: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) addressed 89 percent agenda on Friday and witnessed introduction of two government bills, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the 5th sitting of 21st session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 40 minutes.
• The sitting started at 10:50 am against the scheduled time of 10:00 am.
• The deputy speaker presided over the proceedings for an hour and ten minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by a member of panel of chairpersons.
• The leaders of the House (chief minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 35 MPAs (24 percent) were present at the outset and 45 (31 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leader of ANP attended the sitting.
• One out of four minority lawmakers was present.

Output

• The House witnessed introduction of two government bills including the KP Occupational Safety and Health Bill, 2022 and the KP Apprenticeship Bill, 2022.
• Minister for finance laid the reports of the Auditor General of Pakistan on the Accounts of KP Government.
• Minister for law presented the annual report of the Provincial Ombudsman for the year 2020.

Representation and Responsiveness 

• The House took up five out of nine starred questions during the question hour while lawmakers asked four supplementary questions as well.
• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion for debate in the House which was related to traffic issues in Peshawar city. The motion was sponsored by a lawmaker belonging to ANP.
• Minister for labor responded to a calling attention notice (CAN) regarding increase in prices of stationery and other school items in Peshawar city. Another CAN on the agenda was not taken up due to the absence of mover.
• Five lawmakers participated in debate on an adjournment motion for 55 minutes which was regarding non-appointment of candidates against posts of Assistant Sub-Inspectors, Tehsildars and Naib-Tehsildars who appeared in exams of KP Public Service Commission three years ago.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, March 21, 2022 at 02:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available for the legislators, observers and the media.
• Attendance of the lawmakers was not available for the observers and the media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceedings conducted by the United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted