ISLAMABAD, January 26, 2015: Starting 79 minutes behind schedule, the fourth sitting of the Sindh Assembly’s 18th session left 89% of the agenda items unaddressed, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The agenda items not taken up included five calling attention notices (CANs), a government bill, an adjournment motion and a question of privilege.

The CANs were related to issues of land allocated for a zoo in Hyderabad; service structure for doctors’ promotion; ban on schemes for construction, rehabilitation and up gradation of education institutes; inefficiency of Tehsil Municipal Administration in Lakhi, Shikarpur and missing facilities at schools in the province.

The House did not consider the Sindh Allied Health Professional Council Bill 2014, a privilege motion moved by a PPPP legislator against an HESCO official and an MQM lawmaker’s adjournment motion regarding appointments in the Sindh Education Department.

The House unanimously adopted a resolution to condemn the terrorist attack at Army Public School in Peshawar and demanded the arrest of its culprits at the earliest.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 38 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1119 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House was present for 59 minutes while the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
• Sixty-two members (37%) were present at the outset and 89 (53%) at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 100 members (60%) were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders were present.
• Four minority members attended the proceedings.

Output                                 

• The House unanimously adopted a resolution tabled by PPPP, PML-F, MQM and PML-N to condemn the terrorist attack at Army Public School in Peshawar and demanded the arrest of its culprits at the earliest.
• The Sindh Allied Health Professional Council Bill 2014 was not taken up despite being on the agenda.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Four out of five starred questions appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded by the relevant ministry. In addition, the MPAs raised 24 supplementary questions.
• A Question of Privilege raised by a PPPP legislator against an HESCO official was not taken up.
• An adjournment motion moved by an MQM member regarding appointments in the Sindh Education Department was also left unaddressed.
• The House left five calling attention notices unaddressed during the sitting. The CANs were related to issues of land allocated for a zoo in Hyderabad; service structure for doctors’ promotion; ban on schemes for construction, rehabilitation and up gradation of education institutes; inefficiency of Tehsil Municipal Administration in Lakhi, Shikarpur and missing facilities at schools in the province.

Order and Institutionalization

• Members spoke on 11 Points of Order that consumed 14 minutes of the proceedings’ time.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the members, observers and others.

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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN.