ISLAMABAD, August 22, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh left around one-third of its agenda unaddressed on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 26^th sitting of the fifth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 21 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1520 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leaders of the House and Opposition did not attend the proceedings.
• As many as 49 MPAs (29%) were present at outset and 55 (33%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of TLP, MMAP, PTI, GDA and PPPP attended the proceedings.
• Six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

Output.

• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presented 2^nd biannual monitoring report on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for the period from January-June, 2017.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up three Call Attention Notices (CANs) regarding devastated sewerage line in Karachi West-X, failure of the provincial government to handle flood like situation after rains in Karachi and deaths of policemen in various police operations against criminals in Shikarpur.
• Another two CANs appearing on the agenda were not taken up. These were regarding water issues in Orangi Town and reported purchase of finance certificates by the Sindh Government to increase the capital of Sindh Bank.
• The House took up all five starred questions related to Industries & Commerce Department. In addition, the lawmakers asked 25 supplementary questions.
• A PTI lawmaker withdrew his adjournment motion regarding cases of dengue fever in Karachi after the assurance of the government to take steps for its prevention.
• Another adjournment motion of a PTI lawmaker was deferred till next sitting. It was regarding increase in incidents of street crime in Karachi.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two lawmakers spoke on points of order for four minutes.
• PPPP lawmakers protested during the proceedings for two minutes against the criticism made on their party by PTI lawmakers.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on August 23, 2019 (Friday) at 1000 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