ISLAMABAD: Each provincial assembly recorded a decline in legislation, working hours and attendance of chief ministers in the third parliamentary year when compared with previous year, says a report released by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) here on Tuesday.

“Instead of accelerating their performance on each of the key performance indicators (KPIs), the provincial assemblies have shown a declining trend across most, if not all, the KPIs. Much like the previous years, little or no initiative has been taken in inviting public input and involvement and enhancing transparency and access for citizens,” says the report.

It says that the provincial assembly of Punjab has met for the highest number of sittings, 61, during the third parliamentary year in a comparative analysis of sittings held by each of the four provincial assemblies. However, the sittings of the Punjab Assembly have reduced by about 9 per cent (pc) from 67 in the second year to 61 in the third year.

The Sindh Assembly has met for 57 sittings during the year, showing a 16pc decline from the 68 sittings held in the second parliamentary year.

Jam Kamal remains top on list in terms of attendance among all CMs

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly ranks third in the provincial assemblies in terms of holding sittings as it held 55 sittings in the third year. The number of sittings of the KP Assembly in the third year, however, saw an increase of nearly 6pc from second parliamentary year when the assembly had held 52 sittings.

The Balochistan Assembly which ranks last in comparative analysis of working days during third parliamentary year among four provincial assemblies met for 49 days.

The Balochistan Assembly during third parliamentary year has seen an increase of 48pc as last year it had held only 33 sittings.

During the third year, average working hours per sitting were worked out to be 1.42 in Punjab Assembly, 2.13 in Sindh Assembly, 2.4 in KP Assembly and 2.32 in Balochistan Assembly.

During the third year, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal attended the highest percentage 29pc of sittings of the provincial assembly, followed by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah who attended 21pc sittings of the assembly.

A distant third is Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar who was present in only 8pc sittings of the assembly. KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan attended merely 5pc sittings of the provincial assembly.

In general, with each passing parliamentary year, each provincial assembly has witnessed a decrease in attendance of chief ministers in the assembly sessions with the only exception of Punjab’s CM whose attendance during the third year improved by a miniscule one percentage point over the second year.

On the other hand, 29pc attendance of the Balochistan chief minister during the third year had decreased by four percentage points compared to his 33pc attendance during the second year. Attendance of Syed Murad Ali Shah has also declined by 10 percentage points as he had attended 31pc sittings last year.

Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan Malik Sikandar Khan tops in the comparative analysis as he attended 73pc sittings of the assembly during the third parliamentary year.

During the third parliamentary year ending on Aug 12, Sindh Assembly passed 38 bills, followed by Punjab Assembly which passed 34 bills. The KP Assembly and the Balochistan Assembly passed 33 and 26 bills, respectively.

In terms of average bills passed by each provincial assembly in three years of the current term compared to the three years average of previous terms of each provincial assembly, only the KP Assembly has recorded improved legislative activity of average 122 bills compared to 83 bills in previous tenure.

The Sindh Assembly passed an average of 74 bills in first three years compared to the average of 114 bills passed by previous assembly in first three years.

The Balochistan Assembly passed 45 bills on average in first three years compared to average 60 bills passed in first three years of the previous Balochistan Assembly.

The Punjab Assembly passed an average of 92 bills in first three years compared to the average of 114 bills passed by previous assembly in first three years.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2021