Sindh Assembly Starts Pre-Budget Discussion

ISLAMABAD, April 25, 2016: The Provincial Minister for Finance started Pre-Budget discussion in Sindh Assembly on Monday during 12th sitting of its ongoing 24th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Sindh Assembly met for 71 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1130 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Speaker was absent.
  • The Chief Minister was absent.
  • The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for 57 minutes.
  • 38 lawmakers (24%) were present at the start and 53 (33%) at the end of the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary Leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-N and PTI were present.
  • One minority member was present.
  • Three members applied for leave.

Output

  • The Minister for Finance presented the Quarterly Report on Receipts of the Province, Current Revenue, Capital and Development Expenditures from January to March 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The Provincial Finance Minister opened Pre-Budget discussion and spoke for 25 minutes.
  • A member belonging to MQM spoke for 14 minutes while a PTI lawmaker spoke for four minutes during the Pre-Budget discussion.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on ten Points of Order consuming 13 minutes of the proceeding.

Transparency

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

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.