Attendance crisis: Empty seats and silent members, a norm at the Sindh Assembly

Records show how few MPAs almost never turn up.

KARACHI: A majority of the Sindh Assembly members remain muted and have little to say during sessions. The others prefer to not even attend the proceedings.

This is perhaps indicative of how sincere lawmakers are with their primary roles of taking part in legislation and highlight the problems faced by their voters.



According to assembly records, Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz’s Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Adil Siddiqui and Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Jam Ikramullah Dharejo are among the members who often do not bother attending assembly sessions.

Around 35 bills have been passed during the nine months that the assembly has been in progress, but a majority of the lawmakers have not taken part in it.

The secretary of the provincial assembly, GM Umar Farooq, was reluctant to comment on the issue, but did claim that attendance is higher than what the records indicate. “Some of the members attend the session but don’t sign the attendance register,” he said. “Therefore, it is difficult for us to give details about how many days the members have shown up.”

When asked about the rules regarding action against the members who remain absent, he said that the law is quite clear on the matter. “If any member remains absent for 40 consecutive days of the sitting sessions, then the house with a majority of the votes can declare his seat vacant,” he explained, adding that the speaker will later write to the election commission for the de-notification of the member and announce a by-election schedule on the seat.

This is Dr Rahim’s second tenure. In the last one — from 2007 to 2013 — Dr Rahim turned up only once and has similar progress in the current session as well. Assembly records reveal that, in the last nine months, Dr Rahim has attended only two sessions — the first was the oath-taking ceremony of lawmakers in May 2013 and the second time for the presidential election in July 2013.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Rahim said that during the last PPP government, there were serious threats to his life following an attack on him within the assembly premises. Therefore, he prefers to live abroad. However, he claimed that he now remains absent due to health issues. “Some time ago I was not feeling well,” he revealed. “Now, I live full time in my constituency, looking after the problems of my voters.”

MQM’s Adil Siddiqui stands second in terms of the least attendance and can hardly be seen at any session. More regular members of his party present his leave application in the assembly, citing a different reason every time. “Attending sessions is not the primary responsibility of a member, but spending time in his/her constituency and hearing the problems of the people is more important,” he remarked. “I don’t remember how many days I have attended the session, but I suggest that you inquire from my voters how many days I have visited them in my constituency.”

PPP’s Jam Ikramullah Dharejo, who has won the provincial assembly seat from Sukkur for the second time, also comes in this category of perpetual absentee. During the previous regime (2007-2013), he attended the session for eight days, sitting silently through all of them. In the current assembly, which is going to end its first parliamentary year in May, Dharejo has only attended four sessions.

Despite many attempts, contact could not be established with Dharejo, but assembly speaker Agha Siraj Durrani said that he has always raised this issue with party leadership, informing them about the lack of motivation of assembly members. “We are going to compile a progress of the lawmakers which will expose how the session has become a place for silence for many of them,” he said.

MPAs usually missing out on legislative action

There are a total of 168 members and around 80% have not taken part in any legislation. These MPAs are Sardar Shah, Ikramullah Dhareejo, Ahmed Ali Pitafi, Imdad Pitafi, Fasi Shah, Naeem Kharal of PPP, Aijaz Shah Sherazi, Shah Hussain Sherazi, Ameer Hyder Shah Sherazi of PML-N, Asif Maeh Bhatti, Nadeem Razi, Muhammad Kamran, Mehmood Abdul Razzaque of MQM, Waryam Faqeer, Saeed Nizamani, Hadi Khudabux Rajar of PML-F.

A break-up of how much a lawmaker makes

Salaries and other allowances of MPAs go up to Rs65,000 per month and in addition they get a travel allowance of Rs30,000 each year. They also get an unlimited medical allowance and a conveyance allowance per kilometre for every session attended. MPAs in Karachi receive Rs1,500 per day while the lawmakers from other districts get around Rs2,000 to Rs3,000. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2014.