House rises amid chaos
Parliament on Friday adjourned sine die amid chaotic scenes, with the opposition trying to hijack an agenda on a day Standing Orders dictate government is supposed to drive business in the chamber.
At the twilight of the chaos, the opposition ended up acknowledging that what had transpired in the House was unfortunate.
The House only met for about an hour before it erupted into turmoil as the government side wanted proceedings to be adjourned sine die while opposition legislators pushed for business to proceed.
The bone of contention was the shooting down of Bill 41 of 2022 Press Trust Reconstruction (Amendment) following its tabling by Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo-Banda as first item on the agenda.
Sixty-nine members voted no to the motion to table the Bill while 49 voted yes as 74 MPs were absent.
After the motion, Chimwendo Banda moved a motion to adjourn the House sine die.
Said Chimwendo Banda: “Government came to the Business Committee and gave you the business, the major business for the House was the budget sitting and budget was approved. We are excited that we have served Malawians, therefore, I move a motion that the House rises sine die.”
But the move did not go down well with opposition legislators who shouted and chanted in disapproval, sending the whole House into more chaos.
Speaker Catherine Gotani-Hara struggled to bring order as members from both sides could be seen dancing and cheering while others started walking out in protest.
The Speaker could also be seen consulting with clerks at for a while, but later she walked out of the chamber without the usual formalities, and opposition members remained in the chamber to dance.
In an interview after the adjournment, Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa described the development as unfortunate to the rule of law and democracy, claiming that government seems afraid of oversight by the opposition.
He gave an example of government’s refusal to tackle the Banking Act (Amendment) Bill, which is at committee stage.
Said Nankhumwa: “Government is refusing amendments to the Bill because the Bill is targeting a certain bank. They want to use the Forfeiture Act to snatch this FDH Bank. Let them just withdraw this Bill in totality.”
On his part, Chimwendo Banda accused the opposition benches of trying to hijack government business, arguing that it was surprising that the opposition MPs wanted to dictate the proceedings contrary to Standing Order 47 subsection 3 and 4, which gives powers to government to choose items to be discussed on its day.
He also regretted the way business was wound, saying politics took centre-stage.
Said Chimwendo Banda: “Shame on them [opposition MPs] because they had their own interests, which I think they can sort out outside the House rather than trying to disturb proceedings.”
The House rose without leaders of the House and the Opposition giving their closing statements as is the tradition.
