- Sindh, Balochistan assemblies post highest attendance of members; Punjab lowest with 13%
- Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif attended less than 5% of PA sessions; Balochistan CMs attended 59% of session
The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) on Monday issued its assessment report on the comparative performance of the four provincial assemblies for their third parliamentary year 2015-2016.
In the report, the Sindh Assembly has received the highest score of 68 for its annual progress and performance, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies 66, while the Balochistan Assembly has got the lowest score of 35.
According to the report, the Sindh Assembly performed the best in the area of representation in 2015-2016 with a high score of 88 per cent. The Punjab Assembly performed worst with an average of 13 per cent, of the 368 members being present.
The combined presence of former Balochistan chief minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and incumbent chief minister Sanaullah Zehri was 59 per cent of the total sittings in 2015-2016. Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah at 51 per cent of the total sittings in the Sindh Assembly comes on second position while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak attended 29 per cent of the sittings of the KP Assembly in the third parliamentary year. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif only attended four out of 75 sittings of the provincial assembly.
With regards to legislations, the Sindh Assembly had the best performance with a score of 70 per cent. The assembly saw an active membership that introduced the highest number of Private Members’ Bills at 9. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab introduced only one Private Members’ Bill each while no Private Members’ Bill was introduced in the Balochistan Assembly in 2015-16.
According to the report, the Punjab Assembly passed 46 laws in its third year (2015-2016), the Sindh Assembly passed 28 bills, the Balochistan Assembly passed 23 while the KP Assembly passed the lowest number of bills ie 18.
The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab had the best performance with regards to the Oversight of the Executive in 2015-2016 with a score of 84 per cent. The Punjab Assembly spent 13 sittings (42 hours) discussing the provincial budget 2015-2016, while the Sindh Assembly’s budget session lasted 10 sittings (39 hours); Balochistan Assembly’s session lasted six sittings (14 hours), and KP Assembly passed the budget in only five sittings.
The Punjab Assembly met for the most number of sittings at 75 with the most amount of time spent in the House at 193 hours, while the Sindh Assembly met for a total of 182 hours over 59 sittings, and the KP Assembly met for 126 hours over 51 sittings. The Balochistan Assembly performed the worst with 95 hours over the course of 46 sittings under its belt.
According to PILDAT, the standing committees that offer the most important avenue of oversight of the executive and are considered the eyes and ears of each legislature show a dismal trend of activity across all provincial legislatures. Even the highest number of average meetings per standing committee is 2.4, which is in the Sindh Assembly. In KP, the committees held an average 2.1 meetings per standing committee while 1.4 meetings per standing committee were held in the Punjab Assembly during the third year. PILDAT did not receive the requested data for the Balochistan Assembly in this regard.
In most legislatures, with the exception of the KP Assembly, committees can only meet after a subject has been referred to them by the House and do not have suo moto powers, allowing committees to take up any matter within their domain.
The Punjab and KP assemblies surpassed the other provincial legislatures in transparency and accountability with equal scores of 90 per cent. Punjab’s most important initiative came with its practice of uploading the individual attendance of MPAs online on its official website – first ever provincial assembly to make this move. However, PILDAT notes with concern that the attendance of a number MPAs is excluded from the uploaded attendance, including that of the leader of the house, the opposition leader, and ministers. All in all the attendance of 66 of the 368 MPAs is not uploaded.
The Punjab and KP assemblies regularly compile and update key performance statistics on their websites and are prompt in updating them. The KP Assembly uploads detailed business transacted by each of the 123 MPAs on its official website. The KP Assembly must also be commended for a landmark achievement to transact all business of the House on computers. Computers have now been installed on the desk of every MPA. All business being transacted from executive goes through the Secretariat and is immediately accessible to MPAs.
PILDAT has also assessed the cost-efficiency of the provincial assemblies with regards to allocation of the budget. In 2015-2016, the Balochistan Assembly was least cost-efficient with Rs 12.9 million per hour. While the KP Assembly was the most cost-efficient with spending Rs 6.3 million for every working hour, the Punjab Assembly spent approximately Rs 6.8 million per working hour and the Sindh Assembly spent about Rs 8.1 million per hour.
