PILDAT’s comparative assessment of PAs’ performance: KP Assembly passed most laws, met for most working hours

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT ) comparative assessment of performance of provincial assemblies in the fourth parliamentary year shows a decrease in working hours of all the four provincial assemblies in the 4th parliamentary year while the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa passed the most laws, met for most working hours and sittings and had the highest number of sittings adjourned due to quorum compared to other assemblies in the 4th parliamentary year.

According to a PILDAT report, the Punjab Assembly met for the lowest number of working hours and sittings amongst the provincial assemblies while Balochistan Assembly ranks last in legislative activity but first in chief minister’s attendance during the fourth parliamentary year.

The four provincial assemblies have completed their fourth parliamentary year. The PILDAT assessment shows that while assemblies outrank each other in different areas, each assembly records a decline in working hours, days consumed in budget session and attendance of leaders of the opposition compared to the third parliamentary year.

Even though the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was only convened for 60 days during the fourth parliamentary year, it has worked for more days than other provincial assemblies during the year. The provincial assembly of Balochistan has met for 53 days, provincial assembly of Punjab held only 42 sittings and comparatively the lowest number of sittings, 41, were held by the provincial assembly of Sindh during the 4th parliamentary year.

When compared with the third parliamentary year, sittings of KP Assembly have increased by about 9% from 55 in the year 3 to 60 in year 4 and sittings of Balochistan Assembly have increased by 8% in the fourth year from 49 sittings held in 3rd year. In comparison, sittings of Punjab Assembly in the 4th year have declined by nearly 31% from 3rd year when the assembly had held 61 sittings.

Similarly, sittings of the Sindh Assembly in the 4th year have also seen a decrease of 28% compared to the third year when it was convened for 57 sittings. Even though the number of working hours each assembly meets for in a year is very low overall, in comparative analysis the KP Assembly was convened for most working hours at 126.05 hours during the fourth year. Its shortest sitting lasted only 11 minutes on August 27, 2021 while the longest sitting was held for 7 hours and 30 minutes on June 24, 2022.

When compared with the third parliamentary year, working hours of the KP Assembly have declined by about 17% when it was convened for 147.02 working hours in the 3rd year. Average working hours spent per sitting by the KP Assembly in the 4th year is merely 2 hours and 6 minutes. It must be noted that cost of a working hour in KP Assembly during the 4th year stood at PKR 14.5 million according to the allocated budget of the assembly.

The provincial assembly of Sindh has met for 111.51 working hours during the 4th year, which is a decrease of about 13% compared to 3rd year when the assembly met for 126.14 working hours. Its shortest sitting was held for only 2 minutes on September 14, 2021 and longest sitting was held for 13 hours and 8 minutes on June 27, 2022.

The average working hours per sittings in Sindh Assembly have remained 2 hours and 44 minutes. According to allocated budget of the assembly during the 4th year, per working hour cost stands at PKR 25.8 million.

The provincial assembly of Balochistan spent a total of 91.10 working hours in sittings during the 4th parliamentary year. These have decreased by about 36% from the third year when the nassembly had met for 124 working hours.

During the 4th year, the shortest sitting of the assembly was held for only 5 minutes on October 30, 2021 and longest sitting was 5 hours and 33 minutes on October 20, 2022.

The Balochistan Assembly’s average working hours per sitting are 1 hour and 43 minutes, which are the lowest working hours in a sitting compared with other three provincial assemblies. Each working hour in the assembly costs PKR 25.5 million, according to the allocated budget of the provincial assembly of Balochistan in the 4th parliamentary year.

In terms of total working hours in the 4th parliamentary year, the provincial assembly of the Punjab ranks 4th for spending only 76.31 hours in sittings and compared to 102.44 hours during the 3rd parliamentary year, this is a decrease of 36%. Its shortest sitting was held for only 6 minutes on July 27, 2022 and longest lasted 7 hours and 42 minutes on July 29, 2022. Average working per hours per sitting in the Punjab Assembly stand at 1 hour and 49 minutes. It must be noted that according to allocated budget of the assembly during the 4th year, cost of a working hour stands at PKR 48.3 million in the provincial assembly of the Punjab.

During the fourth parliamentary year, chief ministers of Balochistan have attended the highest percentage (30%) of sittings of the provincial assembly of Balochistan.

Jam Kamal Khan, MPA, had resigned as Chief Minister on October 24, 2021 and Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo, MPA, replaced him on October 29, 2021 and this is a combined attendance of both in which Jam Kamal Khan attended only 2% sittings and Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo attended 28% sittings.

Attendance of chief ministers of Punjab ranks at two with 21% sittings of the Punjab Assembly. Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar resigned as chief inister on March 28, 2022 and Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif replaced him on April 16, 2022, who was then replaced by Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, on July 26, 2022 and this is a combined attendance of these three chief ministers.

Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister Sindh, has attended only 15% sittings of the Sindh Assembly during the 4th parliamentary year.

At the fourth ranking is Mahmood Khan, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who has attended only 8% sittings of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the 4th parliamentary year.

In general, with each passing parliamentary year, each provincial assembly has witnessed an increase in attendance of chief ministers in assembly sessions with the only exception of chief minister Sindh whose attendance during the fourth year declined by 1 percentage point than the third year.

On the other hand, attendance of chief minister Balochistan is at the top consecutively in the past 4 years among all assemblies. 30% attendance of chief minister Balochistan during the fourth year has increased by just 1 percentage point compared to 29% attendance during the third year.

Attendance of Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister Sindh, has declined by 6 percentage points from year 3 when he attended 21% sittings and in year 4 he could attend only 15% sittings. 21% attendance of chief minister Punjab increased by 13 percentage point in the fourth year compared to 8% in the third year. 8% attendance of Mahmood Khan, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, increased by 3 percentage points during the fourth year compared to 5% attendance during the third year.

Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh, Haleem Adil Sheikh, MPA, tops in the comparative analysis in terms of attendance as he attended 51.22% sittings of the Sindh Assembly during the fourth parliamentary year, followed by Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, Malik Sikandar Khan, MPA who attended 50.94% sittings of the Balochistan Assembly, Akram Khan Durrani, MPA and Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attended 18% sittings of the KP Assembly and lowest attendance during the fourth year is of the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif and Muhammad Sibtain Khan i.e. 10%.

It must be noted that Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, MPA vacated the office of Leader of the Opposition and was elected as Chief Minister Punjab on April 16, 2022 and Muhammad Sibtain Khan, MPA, replaced him on June 13, 2022 and this is a combined attendance of both. It must also be noted that as per the notification of the Punjab Assembly, the seat of leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly is vacant since July 29, 2022.

Compared to other provincial assemblies, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has passed 60 laws, which is the highest during the fourth year and this is followed by Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, which has passed 35 bills, Provincial Assembly of Sindh which has passed 28 bills and Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, which has passed 27 bills. Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the only assembly that recorded improved legislative activity during the fourth year and shows 45% increase in bills passed compared to third year when 33 bills were passed by the assembly.

In terms of average bills passed by each Provincial Assembly in first four years, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly ranks at the top as it passed 46 bills per year, followed by Punjab Assembly which has passed 32 bills per year, Sindh Assembly has passed 26 bills per year while at the lowest rank, the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan has passed only 19 bills per year.

Comparative analysis on legislation contrasts sharply with budget allocation to each assembly per member during the year, Balochistan, which has passed the lowest number of laws has the highest budget allocation per member at about PKR 35.8 million per member during the fourth parliamentary year similar to the third parliamentary year. Per member budget of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh in fourth parliamentary year is PKR 17.1 million. Budget allocation per member in the fourth year of Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is PKR 12.6 million. The budget allocation per member in Provincial Assembly of Punjab is PKR 9.9 million.