ISLAMABAD, March 5, 2014: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly discussed appointment of consultants for development projects and its financial implications during ninth sitting of its ongoing 10^th session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Nine lawmakers participated in the debate that continued for an hour and 20 minutes. Two members each from JI, JUI-F and PML-N followed by one legislator each of ANP, QWP and PPPP took part in the discussion.

ANP member apprised the House of a meeting regarding the allocation as well as distribution of development funds for female opposition members. Female legislators walked out of the House during the previous sitting over non-allocation of funds to them and were later joined by other opposition members.

The Chair directed the Ministry of Environment to submit replies of questions relevant to it at the earliest.

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The KP Assembly met for three hours and 20 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1605 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and five minutes.
• The House had two prayer breaks of an hour and 11 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of AJIP, PPPP, QWP and ANP attended the proceedings.
• Thirty-eight members were present at the outset while 42 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 60 members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• Three minority members attended the sitting.
• Eight members applied for leave.
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House discussed appointment of consultants for development projects in Irrigation department and ministries of Communication and Works and Public Health Engineering. The financial implications after consultants’ appointments were also debated by the House.
• Nine lawmakers participated in the debate that continued for an hour and 20 minutes.
• Two members each from JI, JUI-F and PML-N followed by one each of ANP, QWP and PPPP participated in the discussion.
• The House took up all seven starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies) on the Orders of the Day. Four of them were responded to by the relevant ministries while three of them remained unanswered due to the absence of concerned legislators. Additionally, members asked six supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• No point of order was raised by any of the members.
• No instance of protest, walkout or boycott was witnessed during the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.

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