Sindh Assembly Leaves Most Agenda Unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, January 26, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh on Thursday left five Call Attention Notices (CAN) unaddressed due to the absence of movers while the House deferred consideration of the Sindh Payment of Wages Bill, 2015 until next sitting, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of proceedings during seventh sitting of 29th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 14 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1027 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Speaker did not attend the sitting.
  • The Chief Minister was absent.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 37 minutes.
  • Twenty-nine lawmakers (17%) were present at the start and 46 (27%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-N and PTI were present.
  • Five minority members also attended the sitting.
  • Five members applied for leave.

Output

  • Tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House deferred consideration of the Sindh Payment of Wages Bill, 2015 until next sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • One out of five Starred Questions was taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked two Supplementary Questions.
  • The House took up three out of seven Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance. The remaining two CANs were deferred due to the absence of the movers.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.

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