Speaker beats own drum

Parliament yesterday adjourned indefinitely with Speaker of the National Assembly Catherine Gotani Hara hailing legislators for the quality of debate and commitment throughout the nine weeks of the Budget Meeting.

Speaking in an interview in Lilongwe, the Speaker said she noted that most of the new members of Parliament (MPs) as well as the Speakers are now beginning to understand their roles better almost three years into the National Assembly’s cycle.

Said Hara: “It was time well spent. We had quite a robust debate on the budget both in clusters and in the House. Members asked the necessary questions on allocations and we saw the same level of enthusiasm in passing of Bills. Members were also thorough in their approach.

“Talk of decorum in the House, we really did not have issues and this made our work quite easy as presiding officers.”

Her sentiments come against a background of previous concerns over legislators’ high absenteeism during previous meetings.

Hara also said Parliament will meet for the Mid-Year Budget Review when the Executive arm of government will be required to account for expenditures approved in the 2022/23 National Budget. In the past year, there was no Mid-Year Budget Review and Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs attributed the situation to a transition in the government financial year from July-June to April-March cycle.

The final day proceedings were not without drama as Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda and Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa tussled on several issues, including some policies of the government.

Nankhumwa, who is Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice-president (South), used his adjournment statement to fault the Tonse Alliance on governance as well as rising prices of basic commodities.

He commended the House for passing the K2.8 trillion 2022/23 National Budget, but asked fellow legislators to take an interest in the implementation of the financial plan. He said there is a trend where Parliament passes budgets every year, but does not translate to anything meaningful to the people.

Nankhumwa said: “Year after year we sit here and applaud the passing of a good budget. We come back a year after and repeat the same things without critically asking the necessary question how the previous budget was implemented. This, to me, is not right.”

He asked government to address the issue of rising cost of living and review the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) which he said was rocked with problems.

Nankhumwa said K284 billion has been cumulatively allocated to AIP in two previous budgets with little impact.

But in his response, Chimwendo Banda, who is also Minister of Youth and Sports, said government was doing its best to manage the economy and ensure that prices of basic commodities stabilise. He said the removal of 16.5 percent value added tax on cooking oil was one of such measures.

On AIP, Chimwendo Banda said President Lazarus Chakwera, in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered in Parliament in February, acknowledged the challenges facing AIP and pledged to reform the programme.

He said: “Starting from this year, one of the reforms the President is going to do is to ensure that we improve on the procurement processes so that there are no more vendors. We are going to buy straight from manufacturers and then we will use farmers clubs.”

On governance, Nankhumwa asked government to ensure demonstrate commitment in fighting corruption by ensuring the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has both financial and human resources.

In response, Chimwendo Banda said Nankhumwa deliberately omitted the fact that some international reports have indicated that Malawi’s corruption perceptions index was improving under the Chakwera administration.

He said the increase in funding to ACB from K4.1 billion in the last financial year to K6.3 billion now, was an indication of government’s commitment to the anti-corruption drive.

Chimwendo Banda also assured the House that the Auditor General will be recruited soon as the call for applications was already done.

He also picked on the opposition, urging them to be united to provide checks and balances.

In an apparent reaction to sentiments expressed by Catholic Church Archdiocese of Blantyre Vicar General Monsignor Boniface Tamani during the memorial service of former president Bingu wa Mutharika, Chimwendo Banda said: “It doesn’t have to take the church to tell you to be united. Madam Speaker, the way they are divided it is so embarrassing.

“It’s high time the opposition became united and provide to this government checks and balances. We gave them the best when we were in opposition and it is time to do the same for us.”

Both Nankhumwa and Chimwendo Banda hailed the House for the manner it conducted its business in the nine weeks of the budget meeting.

Giving his assessment of the Budget Meeting of Parliament, Political Science Association secretary general Makhumbo Munthali said in an interview yesterday one of the positives was the diversity of voices that spoke in the House.

He said it was encouraging to see political parties delegate different people to speak on different issues, especially Bills.

Munthali said it was also humbling to see Cabinet ministers take questions respectfully from legislators.

He, however, said one notable challenge was that some Bills were really rushed either because they were little known to members of Parliament or lack of the members’ capacity.

During the just-ended meeting, Parliament passed 20 Bills, including loan authorisation Bills and six land-related amendment Bills.