PILDAT Performance Analysis of the Provincial Assemblies in 3rd Parliamentary Year (2015-2016):

PILDAT

Performance Analysis of the Provincial Assemblies in 3rd Parliamentary Year

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(2015-2016):

Sindh

Assembly’s performance highest at 68%, Balochistan Assembly gets lowest score

at 35%, Punjab and KP Assemblies tied for second place with scores of 66%

  • Sindh and Balochistan Assemblies post

    highest attendance of members at 34% each followed by KP Assembly at 32%

    and Punjab at 13%

  • Sindh Assembly introduced most Private

    Members’ bills at 9, KP and Punjab Assemblies introduced 1 each while

    Balochistan Assembly introduced none

  • KP Assembly becomes the only Pakistani

    legislature to transact all business in the House through Computers

  • Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif posts the

    lowest Assembly attendance at 5%; Balochistan’s CMs Nawab Sanaullah

    Zehri and Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch post highest combined attendance: 59%

  • In 3 Parliamentary years, Balochistan

    Assembly failed to elect all Chairpersons of Standing Committees

  • Punjab Assembly passed the highest

    number of bills at 46, followed by Sindh Assembly at 28, Balochistan Assembly

    at 23 and KP Assembly at 18

  • The Punjab Assembly met for 193 working

    hours followed by Sindh Assembly, which met for 182 hours, the KP Assembly

    for 126 hours and Balochistan Assembly for just 95 hours.

June 20; In a PILDAT assessment on the comparative

performance of the four Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan in the third Parliamentary

year (2015-2016), the Sindh Assembly has received the highest score at 68%,

followed closely by the Punjab and KP Assemblies at 66%. Balochistan Assembly

got the lowest score of 35%.

Figure 1: Comparative Scores of the Performance

of Provincial Assemblies 2015-2016

Sindh Assembly performed the best in the area

of representation in 2015-2016 with a high score of 88%. Citizens

can only be adequately represented in the Provincial Assembly if their Members

(MPAs) regularly attend the proceedings. Even though it is still not optimal,

the Assemblies with the highest attendance at 34% of the membership being present

on average were the Balochistan and Sindh Assemblies. The Punjab Assembly performed

worst in this regard with an average of 13% of the 368 members being present.1

The combined presence of Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch,

Former Chief Minister of Balochistan (PB-48, Balochistan, NP) and Nawab Sanaullah

Zehri, Current Chief Minister (PB-33, Balochistan, PML-N) was 59% of the total

sittings in 2015-2016. A close second was the attendance of the Honourable Chief

Minister of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, MPA, (PS-29, Sindh, PPPP) at 51% of the

total sittings in Sindh Assembly. The Honourable Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Mr. Pervaiz Khattak, MPA (PK-13, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI) attended 29% of the

sittings of the KP Assembly in 3rd year. The lowest attendance in 2015-2016

was of the Honourable Chief Minister of the Punjab, Mr. Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif,

MPA (PP-159, Punjab, PML-N), who only joined 5% sittings of the Provincial Assembly

of the Punjab during the third year.

Figure 2: Attendance of Chief Ministers

in Respective Assemblies 2015-2016

While the Leader of the House in the Punjab

Assembly demonstrated the lowest attendance, the Opposition Leader, Mian Mehmood

ur Rashid, MPA (PP-151, Punjab, PTI) attended 85% of the sittings in 2015-2016,

the highest figure for any leader of the opposition in the provincial assemblies.

Khawaja Izharul Hassan, MPA (PS-99, Sindh, MQM), Opposition Leader from Sindh

Assembly was present for 73% of sittings; Maulana Abdul Wasay, MPA (PB-20, Balochistan,

JUI-F), Balochistan Assembly Opposition Leader attended 61% of sittings, and

Maulana Lutf ur Rehman, MPA (PK-66, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, JUI-F), KP Assembly

Opposition Leader, was present for 53% of the sittings.

Figure 3: Attendance of Leaders of Opposition

in Respective Assemblies 2015-2016

Sindh Assembly also had the best performance

with regards to legislation with a score of 70%. The Assembly

saw an active membership that introduced the highest number of Private Members’

Bills at 9. Private Members’ Bills are important indicators of the performance

as they reflect the usage of the provision given to legislators to make laws

in addition to those made by the Executive. The remaining 3 Provincial Assemblies

lagged behind with only 1 Private Members’ Bill introduced by the Punjab

and KP Assemblies each. No Private Members’ Bill was introduced in the

Balochistan Assembly in 2015-2016. Meanwhile, the Punjab Assembly passed 46

laws in its third year (2015-2016), the Sindh Assembly passed 28 bills, the

Balochistan Assembly passed 23 bills while the KP Assembly passed the lowest

number of bills at 18.

The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab had the

best performance with regards to the Oversight of the Executive

in 2015-2016 with a score of 84%. Even though the budget process in Assemblies

remains very weak in general, Punjab Assembly spent 13 sittings (42 hours) discussing

the Provincial Budget 2015-2016. In comparison the Sindh Assembly’s budget

session lasted 10 sittings (39 hours); Balochistan Assembly’s session

lasted 6 sittings, and KP Assembly passed the annual budget in only 5 sittings.

The Punjab Assembly is also to be commended for being one of the two Assemblies,

alongside the Sindh Assembly, that has mandated in the Rules of Procedure a

pre-budget debate to increase the powers of the legislators in the development

of the annual budget. In terms of oversight of finances, however, the Sindh

Assembly surpasses Punjab by being the only Assembly to review the implementation

of the budget on a quarterly basis. The Executive in Sindh submits a Quarterly

Report of the Budget to Sindh Assembly, which is then discussed by legislators.

However, significant reforms are still required

across the 4 Provincial legislatures to strengthen the Budget process before

its passage. With limited time available to scrutinize the Provincial Budgets

and no adequate powers with Standing Committees to undertake in-depth reviews

of the Provincial Budgets, year after year, Budget Sessions see mere endorsements

of the Executive’s budget by the Provincial Legislatures. PILDAT has been

making recommendations to strengthen the Budget process in the Parliament and

Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan, which include increasing the duration of

the Budget process to at least 30 – 45 days and changes in the Rules of

Procedure of the Provincial Assemblies to allow Standing Committees both power

and time to review the Budget both before and after its introduction.

The Punjab Assembly met for the most number

of sittings at 75 with the most amount of time spent in the House at 193 hours.

In comparison, the Sindh Assembly met for a total of 182 hours over 59 sittings,

and the KP Assembly met for 126 hours over 51 sittings. The worst in this regard

was once again the Balochistan Assembly with 95 hours over the course of 46

sittings under its belt. In terms of time spent in the House, Sindh Assembly

members spent 3.1 hours on average per sitting, followed by Punjab Assembly

at 2.6 hours per sitting, KP Assembly at 2.5 hours per sitting, and lastly Balochistan

Assembly at 2.1 hours per sitting.

Standing Committees that offer the most important

avenue of oversight of the executive and are considered the eyes and ears of

each legislature show a dismal trend of activity across 4 Provincial Legislatures.

Even the highest number of average meetings per Standing Committee is 2.4, which

is in the Sindh Assembly. In KP, Committees held an average 2.1 meetings per

Standing Committee and 1.4 meetings per Standing Committee were held in the

Punjab Assembly during the third year. PILDAT did not receive the requested

data for the Balochistan Assembly in this regard. However, it is worth remembering

that Balochistan Assembly lagged behind even in activating its Standing Committees

while even at the close of the third year, 2 Standing Committees (Local Government,

and Public Health Engineering) are still without Chairpersons and thereby not

functional. There is a crucial need of reforms in enhancing the powers and capabilities

of Standing Committees. In most legislatures, with the exception of the KP Assembly,

Committees can only meet after a subject has been referred to them by the House

and do not have suo moto powers, allowing Committees to take up any

matter within their domain.

The Punjab Assembly is to be commended for its

amendment to the Rules of Procedure in 2015-2016 that makes it mandatory to

hold election of Standing Committees within 90 days after the election of the

Leader of the House. A similar rule needs to be introduced in the Rules of Procedure

of all the Provincial Assemblies so that the inordinate delay can be avoided. 

Additionally, the Punjab Assembly also amended Rules adding a Zero Hour to take

up matters of urgent public importance relating to the Government and requiring

intervention of the Assembly.

The Punjab and KP Assemblies surpassed the other

Provincial legislatures in Transparency and Accountability with

equal scores of 90%. Punjab’s most important initiative came with its

practice of uploading the individual attendance of MPAs online on its official

website. The Punjab Assembly became the first of all National and Provincial

legislatures in Pakistan to make this move. However, PILDAT notes with concern

that the attendance of a number of MPAs is excluded from the uploaded attendance:

including that of the Leader of the House, the Opposition Leader, Ministers,

Parliamentary Secretaries, Advisor to the Chief Minister, and Special Assistants

to the Chief Minister. All in all the attendance of 66 of the 368 MPAs is not

uploaded. In comparison the Senate and the National Assembly upload the attendance

of all the members regardless of whether they are Ministers or Parliamentary

Secretaries. PILDAT recommends that the Assembly Secretariat upload the attendance

of ALL MPAs as well as attendance within Committee meetings as is undertaken

by the Senate of Pakistan.

Regrettably, other than Punjab, no other Provincial

Assembly has, as of yet, begun making available members’ attendance on

their respective websites for easy public access.

The Punjab and KP Assemblies regularly compile

and update key performance statistics on their websites and are prompt in updating

them. The KP Assembly uploads detailed business transacted by each of the 123

MPAs on the official website. The KP Assembly must also be commended for a landmark

achievement to transact all business of the House on computers. Computers have

now been installed on the desk of every MPA. All business being transacted from

Executive goes through the Secretariat and is immediately accessible to MPAs

who simply have to click on the relevant folders to immediately access information

on questions, answers, motions, bills and proposed amendments amongst others. 

The quality of websites of the Balochistan and

Sindh Assemblies lag far behind those of the Punjab and KP Assemblies. Not only

do they not have detailed performance statistics but they also do not upload

basic information such as lists of adjournment motions, Calling Attention Notices,

questions, etc. Sindh Assembly is only marginally better than Balochistan Assembly

by virtue of regularly issuing notices of Committee meetings.

PILDAT has assessed the cost-efficiency of the

Provincial Assemblies with regards to allocation of the budget. In 2015-2016,

the KP Assembly was the most cost-efficient at spending Rs. 6.3 million for

every working hour, Punjab Assembly spent approximately Rs. 6.8 million per

working hour, Sindh Assembly spent about Rs. 8.1 million per hour, and Balochistan

Assembly was least cost-efficient with Rs. 12.9 million per hour.

Methodology

PILDAT scored the performance of the four Provincial Assemblies in the third

Parliamentary year (2015-2016) using a series of key performance indicators.

Scores were generated using the min/max technique on the respective data for

each Provincial Assembly and then aggregated to arrive at a final score out

of 5. After each score out of 5 was generated, equal weightages were assigned

to each parameter: Representation, Legislation, Oversight of the Executive,

and Transparency and Accountability. Final weighted percentage scores were then

calculated. For the parameter on Transparency and Accountability, scores were

assigned subjectively by the PILDAT Team based on on-going monitoring of the

websites and the sharing of crucial information.

The data for the key performance in