ISLAMABAD, March 11, 2013: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed four bills in the 5^th sitting of the ongoing 30^th session amid low attendance. The sitting, which met for an hour and 56 minutes witnessed, lack of quorum at various stages.

Only 19 members were present at the outset while 35 were there when the sitting was adjourned.

The House passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Workers’ Compensation Bill 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Maternity Benefits Bill 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Factories Bill 2013.

An ANP minority member walked off the House over failure of Punjab government to protect the lives and property of minorities in Lahore and, on the other instance, a PPPP member staged a token walkout over Speaker’s behavior.

The Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the parliamentary leaders of PMLN and PPPP 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 56 minutes. There was a 35-minute prayer and tea break.
• The sitting started at 1635 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours, witnessing a delay of 35 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of only PML and PPPP were present whereas those of PMLN, PPPS were absent.
• Only 19 members were present at the outset while 35 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 42 were present at one point of the sitting.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• Six members applied for leave.

 

Representation and Responsiveness

• The three starred questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries.

 

Output

• The House passed four bills. These were: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Workers’ Compensation Bill 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Maternity Benefits Bill 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Factories Bill 2013.
• Three bills – The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arms Bill 2013, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Exploslives Substances Bill 2013, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Usurious Loans Bill 2013 – were introduced.
• The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) Amendment Bill 2013 remained pending.
• The Standing Committee on Secondary and Elementary Education presented its report, which was adopted by the House.

 

Order and Institutionalization

• A point of order consumed three minutes of sitting time.
• Two instances of walkout observed during the sitting. An ANP minority member walked off the House for four minutes over failure of Punjab government to protect the lives and property of minorities in Lahore and, on the other instance, a PPPP member staged a token walkout over Speaker’s behavior.

 

Transparency

• Agenda of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The members’ attendance record was not made public.

 

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