House to meet virtually
Parliament will meet from February 22 for the Mid-Year Budget Review with 70 legislators physically attending proceedings in the chamber and the rest participating virtually.
Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye said in an interview yesterday the arrangement has been designed to safeguard staff and members of Parliament (MPs) from Covid-19 which has been spreading rapidly in the country.
He said: “It won’t be the same 70 members that will be participating physically every day. The plan is that they will be alternating.”
Mwenye added that all MPs will be expected to be within Lilongwe during the four-week duration of the meeting.
He said they are not anticipating major challenges in executing a virtual plan.
“We have been preparing for this for a long time. In technology you expect to face some glitches but we have done our best to ensure there are only minor glitches,” Mwenye said.
He said Minister of Finance Felix Mlusu is scheduled to present his Mid-Year Budget Review Statement on February 26 2021.
Mlusu is widely expected to table a supplementary budget to make amends to his maiden fiscal plan that has gone off track during the first six months of implementation.
Figures The Nation sourced from Treasury indicate the K2.2 trillion 2020/21 National Budget has a K340 billion deficit in the first six months of implementing with government’s spending exceeding the budget by a whopping K10 billion.
With an allocation of K523.7 billion, wages and salaries were the major beneficiaries of the budget followed by the education sector with K384.5 billion, interest payments projected at K376 billion and agriculture at K354.8 billion.
Other issues on the agenda include update on the implementation of the Affordable Inputs Programme, a K160.2 billion Ministry of Agriculture initiative meant to sell farmers inputs at heavily subsidised cost as promoted during the Tonse Alliance campaign. Parliament has not been spared the impact of Covid-19 as five legislators have died of the pandemic since last July.
