ISLAMABAD, September 20, 2021: The Sindh Assembly took up entire agenda and adopted one resolution on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 54 minutes; however, the proceeding remained suspended for 16 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 03:05 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the proceedings for an hour and 53 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by the deputy speaker.
• The leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The leader of the opposition was present for an hour and 35 minutes.
• As many as 27 MPAs (16 percent) were present at the outset and 29 (17 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
• Six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

 Output 

• The House witnessed introduction of two government bills which were referred to the relevant committees. These bills were the Sindh Mines and Minerals Governance Bill, 2021 and the University of Mirpurkhas Bill, 2021.
• The audit reports of government departments on the Accounts of Climate Change, Environment and Disaster Management Organizations and Government of Sindh for the Audit Year, 2019-20 were presented in the House.
• Tabled by a TLP lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution demanding the government to ensure implementation on a resolution passed by the House one year before which urged to write Khatam-un-Nabiyyin with the name of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
• The Chair announced the assent of Governor to the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

 Representation and Responsiveness 

• Six out of 14 starred questions were taken up during the question hour. In addition, the lawmakers asked 22 supplementary questions.
• The House took up six calling attention notices (CANs) about quality education in Sindh, entrance of Afghan refugees in the province, payment of minimum wages to the employees, regularizing the service of Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiatives (PPHI) employees, availability of anti-snake venom in rural areas of the province and provision of water in Baldia town, Karachi.
• A privilege motion of PTI lawmaker against Secretary and Director Labor and Human Resources Department was rejected.
• The Chair termed an adjournment motion of MMAP lawmaker `out of order’ which was regarding local body system in the province.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Three lawmakers spoke on points of order for nine minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

 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