Sindh Assembly leaves 73 percent agenda unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, September 13, 2021: The Sindh Assembly left 73 percent agenda unaddressed and took up two calling attention notices on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the second sitting of 23rd session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for an hour and 45 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 03:30 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
  • The speaker presided over the entire proceedings.
  • The deputy speaker was not present.
  • The leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
  • The leader of the opposition was present for an hour.
  • As many as 37 MPAs (22 percent) were present at the outset and 48 (29 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
  • Five out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

 Output 

  • The House did not consider the Sindh Mines and Minerals Governance Bill, 2021 and two audit reports of government departments.
  • The Chair did not announce the assent of Governor to the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

 Representation and Responsiveness 

  • Seven out of 26 questions were taken up during the question hour. In addition, the lawmakers asked 19 supplementary questions.
  • The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs) regarding lack of transport facilities in Karachi and delay in project of Landhi Medical College.
  • Another two CANs on the agenda remained unaddressed which were about poor performance of DMC Korangi and fund allocation for bar associations in Sindh.
  • A privilege motion of PTI lawmaker against Secretary and Director Labor and Human Resources Department was not taken up.
  • An adjournment motion of MMAP lawmaker regarding local body system in the province also remained unaddressed.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for 15 minutes.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 10: 00 am.

 Transparency                                                             

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

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions excepted