August 16; PILDAT has released a review of performance of the third year of the 15th National Assembly from the citizens’ perspective. The PILDAT analysis looks at Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in reviewing performance of the 15th National Assembly of Pakistan as it completed third year of its 5-year term. In addition to comparison between three years, the report also draws comparative analysis of performance between 3 years of the 15th National Assembly and the same period of 14th National Assembly.
Legislation
Legislative activity has seen a sharp increase in the third year of the 15th National Assembly as it has passed 60 laws. This is 100 % increase over 30 bills passed in the second year by the Assembly. The first year had seen the passage of only 10 bills.
The 15th National Assembly has passed 100 bills during the first three years, compared to 69 total bills which were passed by the 14th National Assembly in its first 3 years. The increase in legislative activity in the 15th National Assembly in its first three years is, therefore, 45% higher than the legislation during the first three years of the previous (14th ) National Assembly.
Figure 1: Comparison of Bills passed in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Ordinances
Another positive development has been the decrease in the number of ordinances laid by the Government in the Assembly during the third year. 20 ordinances were laid in the Assembly in the third year, compared to 31 ordinances laid in the Assembly during its second year, which is a decrease of about 35%.
How situation in this context is not so encouraging when it is compared to the previous assembly. 29 ordinances were laid by the previous government in the first 3 years of the 14th National Assembly compared to 58 ordinances laid by the current government in the 15th National Assembly in three years, showing 100% increase.
Figure 2: Comparison of Ordinances laid in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Working Days
During its third year, the 15th National Assembly has met only for 79 working days, which have seen a decline of 11% from 89 working days in the second year. On the average, 15th National Assembly has met for 88 working days per year in its first 3 years. In comparison, the previous (14th) National Assembly had met for an average of 99 working days per year during its first 3 years. In that sense also, the performance of the 15th National Assembly has declined by 11% compared to the 14th National Assembly.
Figure 3: Comparison of Working Days in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Working Hours
In its third year, the 15th National Assembly has met for 217.10 hours (or 217 hours and 6 minutes). The working hours have declined by 36% from the second year of the Assembly when it had convened for a total of 340.34 (340 hours and 20 minutes). The average working hours of the 15th National Assembly in three years are 284.87 (284 hours and 52 minutes). In the first 3 years of the 14th National Assembly, the average working hours of the Assembly were 312.08 (312 hours and 5 minutes). The average working hours per year have declined in the 15th National Assembly by 27% compared to the previous (14th) National Assembly.
Figure 4: Comparison of Working Hours in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Attendance of MNAs
The third year of the 15th National Assembly has also seen an average 65% attendance of MNAs which is slightly above the 64% average attendance of MNAs during the second year. The combined average of MNAs attendance in first three years of the 15th National Assembly stands at 67%. This is an improvement of 12 percentage points over 55% average attendance of MNAs per year during the first 3 years of the previous 14th National Assembly. The Attendance figures are useful for comparison but these may, however, be misleading as the attendance figures may include all those MNAs who attend even for a brief period of 10 minutes. A more scientific system of computation of attendance is required showing, for example, the maximum and minimum attendance during a sitting.
Figure 5: Attendance Comparison of MNAs in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Attendance of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan, MNA has only attended 9% of the Assembly sittings in the third year, which is consistent with his attendance during the second year. On average, Prime Minister has attended 12% sittings in the first 3 years of the 15th National Assembly. Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, had attended, on average 16% of the sittings in the first 3 years of the 14th National Assembly of Pakistan.
Figure 6: Attendance Comparison of Prime Ministers in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Attendance of Leaders of the Opposition
Leader of the opposition in the 15th National Assembly, Mr. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA, has attended 13% of the sittings of the Assembly in its third year. This has improved from only 4% of his attendance during the second year of the 15th National Assembly. However, when compared with the average attendance of the previous Leader of the Opposition in the 14th National Assembly, Syed Khurshid Shah, who attended, on average 75% of the sittings of the 14th Assembly in its first 3 years, the average attendance of Mr. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA, is only calculated to be 24% in three years. This may, however, be added that Mr. Shehbaz Sharif had either been unwell or in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for a considerable period leading to his extended absence from the Assembly. Mr. Shehbaz Sharif had resigned as Chairman, Public Accounts Committee on the same grounds.
Figure 7: Attendance Comparison of Leaders of the Opposition in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Budget Session
Despite consistent calls for reform in the budget process in respective National Assemblies, no change has been brought in to allow adequate amount of time required in the most crucial pieces of annual legislation, i.e., Finance Bill. In the third year of the 15th National Assembly, only 16 days have been spent in scrutiny and passage of the Finance bill 2020-2021, a day less than what was spent during the second year. This has been in keeping with the historic average of budget sessions in the National Assembly of about 15 days.
The 15th National Assembly has also seen a decrease of a little under 2 hours in the total time spent during the budget session. However, the 3 year average of time spent in budget session during the 15th National Assembly is 99 hours, which is a 49% increase in average time spent in budget session during three years of the 14th National Assembly.
Figure 8: Comparison of Budget Sittings in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
Figure 9: Comparison of Time Spent in Budget Sittings in 3 Years of 15th and 14th National Assembly
