Sindh PA Passes Payment of Wages Bill amid Opposition’s Protest

ISLAMABAD, January 30, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed the Sindh Payment of Wages Bill, 2015 amid protest by opposition parties on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during ninth sitting of 29^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 46 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1033 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting as the Speaker was absent.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the proceedings.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 33 minutes.
• Twenty-nine lawmakers (17%) were present at the start and 76 (45%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI were present in the House.
• Five minority members also attended the sitting.
• Three members applied for leave.

Output

• Tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Sindh Payment of Wages Bill, 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Five out of six Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 23 Supplementary Questions.
• The House took up four out of five Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance. The remaining CAN was deferred due to the absence of mover.
• A joint Privilege Motion appearing on the agenda was withdrawn by the movers.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers belonging to opposition benches staged protest for 48 minutes against the early passage of the Sindh Payment of Wages Bill, 2015.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.

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.

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