Sindh Assembly Leaves Most of Agenda Unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, July 01, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh did not address most of the agenda appearing on Orders of the Day, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 14th sitting of the 5th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 25 minute.
  • The sitting started at 1605 hours against the scheduled time of 1200 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for 31 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
  • The Leaders of the House did not attend the proceedings.
  • The leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for two hours and one minute.
  • As many as 31 MPAs (19%) were present at outset and 78 MPAs (47%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary Leaders of PPPP, MQMP, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
  • Eight out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output                                                        

  • The House did not consider five Private resolutions and as many Private Motions, 27 Amendments to the Rules and Procedure of the Assembly, an Adjournment Motion and a legislative proposal.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The Minister for Forest and Wild life  answered all four starred questions during the proceedings. In addition, lawmakers asked 29 supplementary questions.
  • Jointly Moved by PPPP female lawmakers, the House referred a Privilege motion to the Select Committee about use of indecent language against them by a PTI lawmaker.

Order and Institutionalization

  • GDA, PTI and MQM lawmakers protested for 18 minutes against indecent remarks made by a PPPP lawmaker for a GDA member.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on July 02, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1200 hours.

Transparency                                                       

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • The attendance of lawmakers was 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 are excepted