Parliament bars Chakwera from boardroom

During his meeting with Public Affairs Committee (PAC) on Friday, leader of opposition Lazarus Chakwera was reportedly denied access to use the boardroom, a development his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) has described as worrisome and regrettable.

As leader of the opposition, normally when he has a meeting, Chakwera’s office notifies the Parliament secretariat for allocation of a boardroom but on this day he was denied access because he was meeting “outsiders.”

While Chakwera said he would not comment on the matter, his party deputy secretary general Eisenhower Mkaka said they suspected some external influence and it was saddening that Chakwera could be treated so.

Mkaka explained that as leader of opposition, Chakwera was entitled to using the boardrooms at Parliament as long as what he was doing pertained to his office but was surprised that he was barred under the pretext he was meeting outsiders.

“Despite prior request, he was denied and the communication was made the same day of the meeting. So they had to cram in his office and yet there were several rooms available provided for such meetings.

“This is worrisome and very regrettable for Parliament which is supposed to be independent and professional to act in that manner. Obviously, there should be some influence and it is quite saddening for Parliamentary officials to start behaving like politicians. It has worried us and we are not happy with the development,” fumed Mkaka.

While saying he did not want to comment on the issue, Chakwera just said “I was glad to have the meeting in my office despite the crammed space.”

On his part, PAC executive director Robert Phiri said they could not comment on the matter on whether the leader of opposition was rejected the boardroom as that had nothing to do with them.

Said Phiri: “We can’t know whether the boardroom was denied or not because it was not PAC booking the room that should be Parliament secretariat to respond. What we know is we had a fruitful meeting in his office. If anything that is there internal politics at Parliament and does not involve us.”

But principal public relations officer for the National Assembly Leonard Mengezi said Chakwera was not denied access but there was some breakdown of communication between his office and their secretariat.

“Those rooms are for meetings and there was just lack of proper coordination between the office of the leader of opposition and our secretariat. It was just an administrative matter that needed to be properly coordinated, there was nothing else,” explained Mengezi adding he could not comment on MCP outbursts and claims of external influence.