Every NA session costs Rs64.15m: Pildat

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) report on the performance of fourth year of the 15th National Assembly stated that the cost of the National Assembly per sitting is Rs64.15 million, the cost of a working hour stands at Rs31.35 million and the per MNA cost is Rs16.32 million.

The Pildat held a briefing session to showcase its report on the performance of fourth year of the 15th National Assembly on Thursday, where the speakers included Arifa Noor, senior anchorperson Tahir Khalil, journalist Asif Bashir Chaudhry, Secretary Parliamentary Reporters Association Amir Waseem, journalist Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president Pildat and Aasiya Riaz.

The Pildat released a research report on the four-year performance of the 15th National Assembly, which stated that the legislation through ordinances was increased by 118 percent. In the 15th National Assembly, 74 ordinances were presented, whereas in the previous assembly, only 34 ordinances were presented, it said.

The report said the 15th National Assembly held 11 percent less sittings than the previous NA, while during these four years, 59 percent of the agenda was not discussed at all. 155 bills were approved in the 14th National Assembly, while 125 bills were approved in the first four years of the 14th National Assembly, it said.

According to the Pildat report, the current National Assembly has passed 155 bills in the last four years, while the National Assembly, during the tenure of the previous government of the PMLN (2013-18) had passed only 125 bills in the same period.

Meanwhile, 126 bills were passed during the PTI regime, while the PMLN passed 92 bills in the previous assembly. The report stated that the PTI government promulgated a total of 72 ordinances in four years, while Imran Khan attended only 34 assembly sessions as prime minister.

The attendance rate of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly meetings was 29 percent and the attendance rate of Raja Riaz as the Leader of the Opposition is 35 percent so far.

The attendance of former prime minister Imran Khan in joint meetings was 50 percent, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s attendance was 75 percent, the report said. The report said in the fourth parliamentary year of the National Assembly, the quorum was identified 28 times, due to which the session of the National Assembly had to be adjourned 23 times.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari became the most outspoken political leader during the four-year tenure of the current National Assembly as he spoke in the current NA for about two hours, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke for one hour and 57 minutes.

In the house of 342,174 members did not speak a single word in the assembly that included the PTI’s 84 MNAs, PMLN’s 48, while 23 members of the PPP remained silent, it added. Presenting an overview of the performance of 15th National Assembly, President Pildat Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said that the successive leaders did not prioritise the Parliament beyond their electorate. One can partly understand that since delivery of required state services is not effective, the MPs use a majority of their time in working as a conduit to facilitate their services, he added. Presenting the key statistics from the working of 15th National Assembly in the fourth year, he said that the Assembly could not complete on average 59 percent agenda in its sittings.

He said if one looks at what it costs taxpayers to run the Assembly, the annual budget of the National Assembly has increased to Rs5.6 million. “The per MNA cost has become Rs16.32 million, while the per sitting cost is Rs64.15 million and the cost of a working hour stands at Rs31.35 million,” he added.

Arifa Noor, senior anchorperson, said that with each passing year, the Parliament appears to be more and more irrelevant in the larger scheme of democracy in Pakistan. She added that even though law making by ordinance is problematic as pointed out by the Pildat, law making within the Assembly has also not witnessed any improvement, pointing out that the media coverage may be responsible somewhat for the lack of importance placed by the citizens on the parliamentary proceedings.

Sharing his perspectives at the session, journalist Tahir Khalil said that the performance of Parliament has to be reviewed in the historical perspective of frequent disruptions of the parliamentary democracy, adding that there is a particular mindset that does not let the Parliament flourish.

Additional Secretary NA Secretariat Shamoon Hashmi said he returned from Canada yesterday and the media said that 25 parliamentarians have gone to Canada. “Two went with me and I was looking for the remaining 23 that were claimed by the media,” he said.

Journalist Amir Wasim said that beyond the quantitative analysis of laws, one must also view the quality of debate and legislation in the Assembly to get a complete picture. He said that if the speakers keep a partial and biased attitude, this does not help the Assembly, adding that the parties should keep strict criteria for nominating the MPs for the role of presiding officers who have to serve both as custodian and judges.

He stressed that alongside effective Local Government system, functional students unions are necessary. Asif Bashir Chaudhry, Secretary Parliamentary Reporters Association (PRA) said that strange and unprecedented things have happened in the fourth year of 15th National Assembly, including its dissolution and the speaker rejecting the resolution of vote of no-confidence, which eventually had to be decided by the Supreme Court. “There is such lack of tolerance that if a party cannot retain the government, it refuses to sit in the National Assembly,” he said.

He said that a large number of laws are passed within an hour or the legislation is carried out by the ordinances and local government not on the agenda of any major political party. The parliamentary reporters were asked to address the questions, including where the change was witnessed in the performance of the National Assembly during the tenure of the PTI government’s three year and eight months rule since it was elected on the promise of change, expectations of citizens from the working of the National Assembly and what should be the role of Assembly in the larger scheme of democratic governance.

Earlier, Aasiya Riaz shared the details of the performance of the 15th National Assembly in its fourth year based on key performance indicators (KPIs), including the legislation, working days and hours, quorum, attendance and others.