MPs warn govt on bad laws

Members of Parliament (MPs) have warned government against enacting laws that target individuals.

The MPs, mostly from opposition benches and few from the governing nine political-party Tonse Alliance, sounded the warning in Parliament in Lilongwe yesterday while contributing to a report by the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament which faulted some elements in the Banking Act (Amendment) Bill and its proposed amendments.

The Bill, among others, proposes that if a shareholder has an issue or a case in the court, they should not get dividends.

The Budget and Finance Committee Committee wants that to be amended so that shareholders can still enjoy dividends from their investment.

The Bill further proposes that when a shareholder is acquitted by courts or has had their cases discharged, the registrar of financial institutions will have a final say on the matter.

The committee is against the registrar having the final say, saying if the court acquits someone it means they have been cleared.

However, MPs on the government side were against the committee’s proposed amendments while opposition legislators and some Tonse Alliance MPs were against the initial Bill.

Mulanje Bale MP Victor Musowa (Democratic Progressive Party-DPP) said the Bill that government wants infringes on rights of Malawians and that it is being advanced by a few greedy people.

“Democray is under threat. Today in the history of democracy people like the former president Bakili Muluzi must be crying, the late Chakufwa Chihana must be crying wherever he is to see democracy being substituted by few greedy people,” he said. “The people of Mulanje Bale want to say this bank that they are planning to steal they will not steal it. Not in my presence.”

Musowa stressed that if Malawi is to advance, Malawians should be encouraged to invest in the banking industry and that the Budget and Finance Committee of Parliament was being intimidated when it was scrutinising the Bill.

Chipping in, Rumphi East MP Kamlepo Kalua (DPP) also alleged that there are people who are interested in a certain bank and he warned against having laws that target individuals.

Mzimba North legislator Yeremiah Chihana (Alliance for Democracy) and Ntcheu West MP Simeon Salambula of UTM Party also warned against bad laws. They feared that such laws will haunt the country and should not be tolerated.

Lilongwe South MP Peter Dimba (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) said the proposed amendments by the Budget and Finance Committee defeated the whole purpose of amending the Bill.

He said the proposed amendments by the committee are countering the Bill amendment.

Dimba, who is also chairperson of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, said the Bill was not initiated by Tonse Alliance government, arguing it was developed in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

He wondered how the current government is targeting a certain bank when the Bill was developed before the Tonse Alliance government assumed power in June 2020.

Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Gotani Hara said her office does not decide if a Bill is good or bad, but it is up to MPs to debate and decide.

The opposition MPs won when Parliament moved to vote on whether to stop debate or continue.

The proposals come at a time former FDH Financial Holdings Limited group chief executive officer and shareholder Thomson Mpinganjira is serving a sentence after his corruption conviction. He is currently on bail pending appeal. FDH Financial Holdings Limited is a majority shareholder in FDH Bank plc.