FAFEN report: Parliamentary leaders not interested in PA business
Sharif attended 2 sittings, other party leaders also skipped more than half sessions.
LAHORE:
The chief minister attended only two of the 55 sittings of the Punjab Assembly while the leader of the opposition was absent from 28 sittings, according to a report launched by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Tuesday.
The parliamentary leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia were also missing from more than half of the assembly sittings from September 2011 to May 2012.
The house met for eight sessions during the period.
Attendance by members was low in general. On average only 51 MPAs were present at the start of each sitting and 56 at the end.
The eight sessions, according to the report, focused on amendments to various laws after the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
Of the 41 bills passed during the period, 37 were amendments to existing laws.
The four other bills were about facilitating private investment in the energy sector, giving ownership rights to tenants, establishing a university in Dera Ghazi Khan, and conserving the Walled City of Lahore.
The report is based on the direct observation of the Assembly proceedings by PATTAN, a FAFEN partner organisation.
Out of the 249 adjournment motions by legislators, most (38) were related to health, followed by education (31), transport (22), and law and order (20).
Of these 100 adjournment motions were disposed of, 115 were pending and 27 taken up, explanations were given for six and one was referred to a standing committee.
The report says that though “the disposal of agenda items related to the executive’s oversight was swift, with more than 95 per cent of all call attention notices and questions taken up and responded to, the items left pending, such as 115 adjournment motions, may be because of including too many items on the orders of the day.”
The call attention notices were mostly about law and order situation in the province.
Of 24 such notices, 15 were related to murders and injuries during robberies. Three were about deaths in police custody.
According to the Free and Fair Election Network report, “Another reason for low disposal of some agenda may be the excessive use of points of order to make speeches and rejoinders rather than pointing out any breaches in parliamentary discipline. The members of the assembly raised 339 points of order, consuming 15 per cent of the time otherwise allocated for regular agenda.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2012.
The chief minister attended only two of the 55 sittings of the Punjab Assembly while the leader of the opposition was absent from 28 sittings, according to a report launched by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Tuesday.
The parliamentary leaders of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia were also missing from more than half of the assembly sittings from September 2011 to May 2012.
The house met for eight sessions during the period.
Attendance by members was low in general. On average only 51 MPAs were present at the start of each sitting and 56 at the end.
The eight sessions, according to the report, focused on amendments to various laws after the passage of the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
Of the 41 bills passed during the period, 37 were amendments to existing laws.
The four other bills were about facilitating private investment in the energy sector, giving ownership rights to tenants, establishing a university in Dera Ghazi Khan, and conserving the Walled City of Lahore.
The report is based on the direct observation of the Assembly proceedings by PATTAN, a FAFEN partner organisation.
Out of the 249 adjournment motions by legislators, most (38) were related to health, followed by education (31), transport (22), and law and order (20).
Of these 100 adjournment motions were disposed of, 115 were pending and 27 taken up, explanations were given for six and one was referred to a standing committee.
The report says that though “the disposal of agenda items related to the executive’s oversight was swift, with more than 95 per cent of all call attention notices and questions taken up and responded to, the items left pending, such as 115 adjournment motions, may be because of including too many items on the orders of the day.”
The call attention notices were mostly about law and order situation in the province.
Of 24 such notices, 15 were related to murders and injuries during robberies. Three were about deaths in police custody.
According to the Free and Fair Election Network report, “Another reason for low disposal of some agenda may be the excessive use of points of order to make speeches and rejoinders rather than pointing out any breaches in parliamentary discipline. The members of the assembly raised 339 points of order, consuming 15 per cent of the time otherwise allocated for regular agenda.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2012.