Elections 101: What are your MPAs and MNAs actually meant to do?

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—Mushba Said
—Mushba Said

Is an MNA/MPA's job the most misunderstood in the country? I think the answer might be yes.

Political commentator Adnan Rasool wrote for Dawn.com earlier this week about the misconceptions around what an MNA/MPA actually does:

MNAs or MPAs are not responsible for building roads, bridges, getting transfers done, hiring new people to government departments and generally doing any tangible work in their constituency.

Are you surprised to hear that? If so, it might be due to media misinformation as well as due to the fact that elected members don't help their own cause by making wild promises during election campaigns that they simply don't have the power to fulfill.

So what is an MNA/MPA empowered to do?

The primary role of the MNA is that of a legislator. They are supposed to come up with bills that tackle specific governance issues as well as policies that can be voted on to become laws.

Read the entire 101 here.

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