Sindh PA Leaves Most of the Agenda Unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, July 16, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh did not take up most of its agenda appearing on orders of the day, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 18th   sitting of the 5th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 38 minutes.
  •  The sitting started at 1520 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 28 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
  • The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the proceedings.
  • As many as 45 MPAs (27%) were present at outset and 53 (32%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of TLP, MMAP and PPPP attended the proceedings.
  • Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output 

  • Tabled by a GDA lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the government to take action on incidents of kidnapping of girls in various Districts of Sindh. As many as 11 lawmakers spoke on it for 53 minutes.
  • The House did not consider four private resolutions and 27 amendments to the Rules and Procedure of Provincial Assembly.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Sponsored by a PPPP lawmaker, the Chair admitted an adjournment Motion for debate on July 19, 2019 which was regarding price hike of essential commodities.
  • A PTI lawmaker withdrew his privilege motion after assurance of government to resolve the issue of water supply in PS-110.
  • The Minister for Education responded to four out of 11 starred questions. In addition, the lawmakers asked 28 supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The House was adjourned to meet again on July 19, 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