ISLAMABAD, December 18, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare (Amendment) Bill, 2018 on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of the ongoing (fourth) session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for three hours and 49 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1115 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• As many as 49 members (39%) were present at the start and 32 (25%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, ANP, PML-N, PML-Q and PPPP attended the sitting.
• As many as two out three minority members were present.

Output                                             

• Moved by the Provincial Minister for Law, the House passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare (Amendment) Bill, 2018 with majority vote.
• The House deferred the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Continuation of Laws in Erstwhile Provincially Administered Tribal Areas Bill, 2018. As many as 12 lawmakers debated the bill for 30 minutes. The bill was deferred on the opposition’s protest which demanded to refer the bill to a Select Committee. The Provincial Minister for Law gave an assurance to brief the lawmakers on the bill in detail.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up an Adjournment Motion of a MMAP lawmaker regarding a dangerous curve on Indus Highway due to absence of the mover.
• A MMAP lawmaker withdrew his Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding spread of Lashmeena disease in a union council in PK-86. A CAN regarding health facilities in jails was not addressed due to absence of the mover.
• The House held a discussion on a MMAP lawmaker’s question regarding development programs included in the Annual Development Plan during 2013 to 2018. As many as two lawmakers participated in the discussion that continued for 10 minutes.
• The House adopted an ANP lawmaker’s motion seeking constitution of a special committee for investigations in to Sonami Billion Tree Project.
• The House took up 10 out of 14 starred questions were taken up. These questions were responded to by the Ministers for Finance, Law and Minerals. The remaining four questions lapsed due to absence of the movers. In addition, the lawmakers asked six supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition parties staged walkouts against the consideration of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Continuation of Laws in Erstwhile Provincially Administered Tribal Areas Bill 2018 and the barring of a PML-N lawmaker from speaking on a point of order. The two walkouts continued for 20 minutes and 8 minutes, respectively.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, December 21, 2018.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

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