KP Assembly performed better during second year, says Pildat

ISLAMABAD: According to a comparative scorecard compiled by Pildat on the performance of the provincial assemblies for the second year, the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has received the highest score at 44 percent for its performance.
The second year of the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Sindh close in on second by performing at 42 percent, while the provincial assembly of Balochistan is lagging behind in performance at 39 percent. A Pildat expert evaluation group of current and former legislators, eminent lawyers and media persons scored the performance of the assemblies based on a series of key performance indicators identified in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) toolkit.
The Sindh Assembly outdid the other provincial assemblies yet again by passing the greatest number of government bills at 41 for the second year. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies stood at second place for this parameter by passing 37 government bills each. Meanwhile, the Balochistan Assembly passed 16 government bills, the lowest amongst all the provincial legislatures.
If compared to the number of government bills passed during the first year, the KP Assembly showed greatest improvement at 32 percent for the second year (it passed 28 government bills during the first year), followed by an improvement of 19 percent by the Punjab Assembly. The provincial assemblies of Sindh and Balochistan saw a comparative decrease of 14 percent and 36 percent respectively during the second year, as the Balochistan Assembly scored the lowest on the legislative performance ladder with a score of 38 percent.
The KP Assembly also took the lead in the number of private members bills passed which stood at five for the second year, followed by four in the Sindh Assembly. Neither the provincial assembly of Balochistan nor Punjab passed any private members bills. The KP Assembly took the lead in the parameter on legislative capacity at 45 percent, while the Punjab Assembly registered a score of 44 percent, Sindh Assembly scored 43 percent and Balochistan Assembly the lowest at 38 percent.
With regards to the total number of actual sittings of the provincial assemblies for the second year, the KP Assembly took the lead with 133 sittings, followed by Sindh at 63 sittings, and Punjab at 62 sittings. The Balochistan Assembly had the weakest performance under this parameter with a total of 47 actual sittings.
On the other hand, the Balochistan Assembly fared best of all the provincial assemblies for the parameter of average peak attendance, which stood at 32.73 per sitting (50% of the total membership). Sindh Assembly stood second with an average peak attendance of 74.36 per sitting (45 percent of the total membership). The performance of the Punjab Assembly was weakest for this parameter at an average of 84.12 peak attendance (23 percent of the total membership).
The Punjab Assembly has made the most welcome move by making the attendance record of its members available on its official website thus fulfilling the provisions of the Right to Information Act passed by the Assembly in 2013. The provincial assemblies of KP and Sindh have received equal scores of 45 percent in transparency and accessibility. The Punjab Assembly has received a marginally lower score of 44 percent while the Balochistan Assembly has received the lowest score in this parameter at 41 percent. For the second year, Punjab MPAs submitted the greatest number of questions at 2,554, 45 percent of which were able to garner a response. The Sindh MPAs submitted 1,558 questions, of which 36 percent were responded by the government. The high number of questions from both these assemblies reflects the engagement of the members in debating subjects of public concern. In comparison, the Balochistan Assembly received only 57 questions, of which 95 percent were answered. Meanwhile, only the government of KP responded to 23 percent of the total 826 questions asked by MPAs.
Much like the National Assembly, the provincial Assemblies also go through merely the motions of passage of the budget like previous years without any required reform to allow for MPAs to scrutinise and debate the budget thoroughly before its passage. During the budget sessions, the Punjab Assembly spent a total of 10 working days with an average of 3.13 hours per sitting. Though the Sindh Assembly met for only eight days, it spent approximately 3.24 hours per sitting. The Balochistan Assembly spent eight days discussing the budget for only 2.25 hours per sitting. The KP Assembly spent only two working hours per sitting over the course of nine days.