PESHAWAR: The ministers and bureaucracy tested Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani’s patience on Friday and warned that he would ban the entry of cabinet members and senior officers to the house if they didn’t attend sessions regularly.

Amid desk thumping by the opposition members, the chair lashed out at senior officers for not attending the proceedings and ordered officers below the additional secretary to leave galleries.

“I will ban the entry of officers ranking below additional secretaries in the assembly if senior officers fail to show up in the session,” he warned.

The speaker said the chief secretary would be summoned to the assembly.

The opposition has been accusing ministers and the chief minister’s advisers of intentionally absenting themselves from the assembly’s session to respond to the questions of lawmakers.

Speaker Ghani says no official meeting important than assembly session

The official galleries often wear a deserted look with the departments tasking junior officers with covering parliamentary business.

The speaker had given rulings on many occasions asking ministers to ensure their presence in the assembly, but to no avail.

He discussed the issue with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, too.

Like ministers and CM advisers, the leader of the house, who holds more than 19 departments, comes to the assembly very rarely.

During the question hour, finance minister Taimur Saleem Khan suddenly disappeared from the proceedings further angering the lawmakers.

The speaker repeatedly called the name of the finance minister for responding to a supplementary question about the nonpayment of dues to contractors building schools after the relevant CM adviser failed to give satisfactory reply about the outstanding amount.

“Either I will postpone the proceedings or quit my seat,” said the speaker when he was told about the minister’s departure.

“No official meeting is important than the assembly’s session,” he said.

Awami National Party MPA Bahadur Khan pointed out that the contractors had abandoned the construction of five primary schools in Lower Dir district due to the nonpayment of dues.

He said construction had begun in 2013 but it continued to be incomplete.

Adviser to the chief minister on elementary and secondary education Ziaullah Bangash admitted that construction had stopped due to the delay in payment of dues to the contractors.

He said the dues totalled Rs35.438 million.

The adviser said the nonpayment of dues had been reported in other districts and the chief minister had directed the finance department to clear dues.

He looked blank when the speaker asked him that how much amount was required to clear the contractor dues.

The chair called the finance minister to assist Bangash.

Earlier, the speaker reprimanded CM adviser Zia Bangash over ‘absurd’ response to the opposition.

During the question hour, ANP MPA Khushdil Khan said the assembly’s Procedure and Conduct of Business Rules, 1988, authorised only the minister concerned to respond to the question and if the relevant minister was not available, another minister would reply and not the adviser.

He said under the rules, the CM’s adviser or special assistant were not authorised to respond to questions in a session.

Opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani supported the ANP lawmaker’s contention and said the opposition would not let the CM’s adviser speak on behalf of the minister.

He said ministers did not participate in the house’s proceedings despite the speaker’s rulings.

Law minister Sultan Mohammad Khan said the opposition’s objection was irrelevant and that the CM’s adviser was a member of the cabinet.

He said there had been no precedent of a CM adviser being stopped from replying to questions.

The minister referred to several articles and sub-articles of the Constitution in support of his argument.

Finance minister Taimur Khan insisted the opposition to withdraw its objection and allow the adviser to answer the question. However, the opposition remained adamant.

The speaker requested the opposition to show leniency and follow parliamentary traditions.

He persuaded the opposition to allow the adviser to respond to the question and said the situation would improve after the appointment of the parliamentary secretaries.

However, Bangash hit out at the opposition and said he would speak only after the chair granted the permission.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani castigated the adviser for his blunt response and warned him to withdraw his words.

“I am trying to defuse tensions but you (adviser) are creating problems,” he said.

The assembly passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Regional and District Health Authorities Bill, 2019, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees of Transport and Mass Transit Department (Regularisation of Services) Bill, 2019.

The law minister presented the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Bill, 2019.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2019