Inner workings: Amendments proposed to K-P Assembly’s rules of business

Draft submitted to deputy speaker; will be presented in next session

PESHAWAR: All political parties in the house jointly submitted a draft proposing amendments to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s rules of business. The document has been submitted to the deputy speaker to present in the coming session.

Pak Women, a nonprofit organisation, arranged two meetings with members of eight political parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Qaumi Watan Party, Awami National Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan. The participants proposed 14 points and hoped to improve the K-P Assembly Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules, 1988.  A two-day workshop was held under the Citizen Voice for Effective Legislative Governance project.

Standing committees

The draft, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, was submitted on Saturday.

It proposes chairpersons of standing committees be authorised to take suo motu action on matters of public interest. It also suggests the agenda of standing committee meetings must be approved by the speaker.

The draft proposes government departments route their demand for grants through respective standing committee. After analysing the references, the same should be referred to the provincial assembly for approval.

Standing committees’ decisions should be implemented and provisions to this effect must be etched in the rules of business. Follow-ups and monitoring of standing committee decisions also need to be among the amendments, suggests the draft.

Bureaucrats attending the standing committee meetings should not be below the rank of additional secretaries, it further adds.

It proposes that two women MPAs be made members of the Public Accounts Committee.

It also proposes not more than three starred questions and as many un-starred questions may be placed on the list of queries in a single sitting. It asks the provincial assembly strictly follow provisions in the rules of business and ‘zero hour’ must be introduced for urgent matters.

The draft asks the provincial government or relevant departments brief all MPAs about bills before introducing them to the assembly.

The house should also provide documents on the web portal in Urdu and in English. K-P Assembly Deputy Speaker Meher Taj Roghani assured party members that the draft, submitted by PML-N MPA Amna Sardar, would be presented in the coming session and changes would be made after mutual consultation with all members.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Roghani appreciated the role of Pak Women, “It takes matters related to assembly’s rules of business very seriously.” She encouraged other non-profits to work on the capacity building of MPAs to ensure they were aware of the rules.

Pak Women Executive Director told The Express Tribune eight major political parties’ members were taken onboard, including Shaukat Yousafzai, Roghani, Qurban Ali from PTI, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli from QWP, Sardar Hussain Babak from ANP, Muhammad Ali Shah from PPP, Mufti Janan and Najma Shaheen from JUI-F, Sardar from PML-N, Rashida Rifat from JI and a member of AJIP.

She said the objective was to strengthen the voice of citizens to improve legislative governance in K-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2016.