ISLAMABAD, January 13th, 2014: Starting 75 minutes late, the fifth sitting of the ongoing 9^th Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was marked by low attendance as 38 MPAs were present at the outset while 40 were there at the adjournment, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

The House passed the KP Ministers Salaries & Allowances (Amendment) Bill 2014 and the KP Promotion Protection Enforcement of Human Rights Bill 2014 during the sitting.

The KP Assembly also adopted two Resolutions. Sponsored by a PTI Member, the Assembly urged the Government to declare Fort Bala Hisar as a picnic spot. The second Resolution was jointly moved by PPPP, PTI, AJIP, JUI-F, JI and QWP Members asking the Federal Government to brief the KP Assembly regarding the progress on the peace process with Taliban.

The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 37 minutes, while, his counterpart, the Leader of the Opposition remained absent. 

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The KP Assembly met for two hours and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1415 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 15 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the siting.
• The Chief Minister was present for an hour and 37 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of QWP, PPPP, JUI-F, AJIP and ANP were present.
• Thirty-eight members were present at the outset of the sitting while 40 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 50 members were present at a point during sitting.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• Fourteen members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Fifteen questions out of the 19 starred appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries. Additionally, six supplementary questions were asked.
• Two calling attention notices were taken up during the sitting.

Output

• The KP Ministers Salaries & Allowances (Amendment) Bill 2014 and the KP Promotion Protection Enforcement of Human Rights bill 2014 were passed during the sitting.
• The House adopted two Resolutions. Sponsored by a PTI Member, the Assembly urged the Government to declare Fort Bala Hisar as a picnic spot. The second Resolution was jointly moved by PPPP, PTI, AJIP, JUI-F, JI and QWP Members asking the Federal Government to brief the KP Assembly regarding the progress on the peace process with Taliban.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two points of orders was raised which consumed fifteen minutes of the sitting time.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

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