ISLAMABAD, December 22, 2020: The Sindh Assembly left most of its agenda unaddressed on Tuesday, and was later prorogued soon after the statement of the Minister for Energy on gas shortage in the province, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first and last sitting of the 16^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 51 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1455 hours against the scheduled time of 1430 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the proceedings for an hour and 11 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) attended the sitting for an hour and five minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 20 minutes.
• As many as 56 MPAs (33%) were present at the outset and 78 (46%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MMAP and GDA attended the sitting.
• As many as eight out of nine minority lawmakers were also present.

 Output

• The House did not consider two private members’ bills, five resolutions and as many private motions, a privilege motion, an adjournment motion, a report of Standing Committee and amendments in Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up four out of seven starred questions while lawmakers also asked 19 supplementary questions.
• Minister for Energy gave a statement regarding shortage of gas in the province and consumed 20 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

• PTI and MQM lawmakers protested in the House for five minutes during the speech of Minister for Energy.
• The Session was adjourned for an indefinite period.

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