lthough members of National Assembly, the Lower House of the parliament, have an edge over senators in being able to legislate exclusively on money matters, profiles of the latter indicate that they are more likely to hail from rich and influential backgrounds as compared to their counterparts in the National Assembly. The 430 members of the parliament (senators and MNAs) are empowered to make laws for over 240 million people of this country. The 96 members of the Upper House of the parliament are elected every six years. They are meant to complete their term. Unless a member is disqualified by a court, the senators cannot be forced to leave their office. MNAs, on the other hand, can be removed in instances such as martial laws, end of assembly’s tenure or as penalty for dishonouring the party code. An MNA can become a prime minister but a senator cannot be elected as head of the government.

The National Assembly seems to have the lead over the Senate when it comes to legislation. Records show that the Senate passed 360 Bills while the National Assembly passed 463 Bills during the previous two terms (2013-2023). Together, the two houses passed 823 bills over the last ten years.

Records of the Election Commission indicate that senators were wealthier compared to MNAs as shown by mandatory declarations of assets and liabilities. A majority of senators own and operate businesses.

The senators are also more educated as is evident through their declarations of educational portfolios as compared to MNAs who come from more diverse backgrounds. The senators tend to show greater maturity in debate and breaches of decorum are rare. MNAs, on the other hands, frequently try to pull down their opponents, ignoring decorum of the house. Both have a say in allocation of development funds and can become cabinet members. With the exception of money bills, both houses tend to work together to carry out the basic work of the parliament – law making.

Over a dozen senators are billionaires, according to their own declarations. This makes for a lager concentration of wealth as 15 MNAs (out of 336) have assets exceeding a billion rupees. All told, the federal lawmakers’ assets stand at around Rs 98 billion. As many as 15 senators own businesses abroad.

“In general, both the Senate and National Assembly, even the Provincial Assemblies, have not performed their primary responsibilities satisfactorily,” observes Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency.

Some members of both the houses have been chairing standing committees as well as holding ministerial portfolios looking at affairs of the businesses they are in. For instance, a minister for industries owned industries and gave official contracts to their firm. Another lawmaker, who owned an energy business and had a huge share in the power sector, was made the minister for power.

“In general, both the Senate and the National Assembly – even the Provincial Assemblies – have not performed their primary responsibilities satisfactorily,” observes Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency. “Legislation is bureaucracy- or donor-driven. Many of the legislators don’t scrutinise the legislation under consideration. Even the finance bill and budget, which are the most important policy documents of any government, are passed without meaningful consideration,” he says.

Committees don’t exercise the responsibility of oversight of the Executive effectively, he says, adding that policy debates are rare. Order of the day is seldom exhausted. “Legislators work hard but due to their voters’ strong preference, they spend most of the time attending to constituency problems. The passage of the 1973 constitution, of the 18th Amendment in 2010, of the Elections Act in 2017, and standing up to fascist onslaught on the parliament in 2014 are some of the glorious achievements of the parliament,” he says.

When it comes to having a share in the federal cabinet, the law says the prime minister can choose most of his cabinet from the National Assembly (75 percent) while the rest (25 percent) can be taken from the Senate.

The Senate has a six years term and is not subject to dissolution. Unlike MNAs, senators have no direct constituencies. The government spends over Rs 1,100 billion annually on average for public sector development programmers or sustainable development programmers under sustainable development goals. Members of both the houses get to identify development schemes to be launched in their areas. There was a huge debate over use of these fund in less developed districts. There have been complaints that many schemes in backward districts remain incomplete although billions of rupees were released for them in the past three years.

The writer is Special Investigative editor at Hum News Pakistan in Islamabad.