Senate performance over the last 5 years assessed as poor
Staff Report

Islamabad—Senate of Pakistan completed its 5th parliamentary year in March 2008 but without satisfactory performance in terms of law making, executive oversight or public representation. This is the analysis presented in a report prepared by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, Pakistan (CPDI-Pakistan).
In 5 years, Senate was able to pass only 34 bills, which means that its average performance in terms of law making was less than 7 bills per year. It passed 2 bills in the first year, 14 in the second year, 10 in the third year, 7 in the fourth year and only 1 in the fifth year. Most senators did not take any significant initiatives in terms of law making, as only 31 private member bills were introduced during these 5 years.
Furthermore, in most cases, senators failed to ensure any stakeholders’ participation or feedback in the process of preparing their private member bills.
Poor performance of Senate in terms of law making was largely because of the attitude of the executive, which extensively relied on ordinances and discouraged initiatives in the form of private member bills. It is evident from the fact that the executive laid 130 Ordinances in the Senate during these 5 years, most of which were repeatedly re-issued as these could not be effectively taken up for rejection or enactment with or without amendments. In the same period, the Senate passed only 2 out of 31 private member bills, which had been introduced in the House.
One example of repeated re-issuance of Ordinances is The Police Order (Amendment) Ordinance 2004, which was first laid in the House on 9th of December 2004. This was never rejected or enacted by the Parliament, while the executive continued to re-issue and lay it before the House throughout its tenure.