Talks underway with govt to make Senate more powerful: Sanjrani

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani, who met Prime Minister Imran Khan, last week, said Tuesday consultations would be initiated with the government soon to make the Senate, the House of Federation, more powerful.

He emphasised that the committee system needed to be more robust and efficient to effectively perform legislative, accountability and oversight functions of the Senate and contribute towards good governance in the country. Sanjrani said this while presiding over a meeting of the Council of Committees Chairpersons at the Parliament House here.

Chairman Senate, who hails from Chaghi, said that Senate is the House of Federation and it must get more powers to become an effective voice of the federating units and marginalised segment of the society. “We will initiate consultation with government to make Senate more powerful and enable it to contribute more efficiently towards strengthening democratic foundations of the country,” Chairman Senate maintained.

Agreeing with the proposals of the Committees Chairpersons, he said that capacity building of the members and the staff was high on priority and proposals were being considered to enhance capacity through trainings and orientations which would have a long lasting impact on the performance of both the House and the Committees.

He informed the forum that the Senate Secretariat was providing possible assistance to the Committees for smooth execution of the business. He appreciated the Senate Secretariat for excellent service delivery despite scant resources and constraints. Sanjrani particularly mentioned the recent Asian Parliamentary Assembly meetings of the Political Affairs Committee held Gwadar in which the Senate Secretariat delivered against heavy odds, challenges and constraints. However, he urged the Secretariat to work hard for improving support services to Committees.

Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla, Leader of the House in the Senate Shibli Faraz and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq also emphasised the need to further strengthen committees of Senate. The meeting was attended by the minister for Parliamentary Affairs, chairpersons of Senate Standing Committees.