Speaker, Chimwendo roles spark debate
Debate has ensued on whether Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara and Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda should be multitasking their roles with their newly earned influential political party offices.
Hara is first deputy president of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) the key partner in the governing Tonse Alliance, while Chimwendo Banda is the new secretary general (SG). For Chimwendo Banda, he now holds four public offices.
His other roles are legislator for Dowa East and Minister of Local Government, Unity and Culture while the Speaker also serves as Mzimba North East legislator.
The development has stimulated a debate among some political and governance pundits who have questioned the concentration of “too much power” in one person.
The pundits submit that Chimwendo Banda should have relinquished some powers, just as former Speaker of Parliament Henry Chimunthu Banda did when he resigned as SG of the Democratic Progressive Party upon assuming the role of Speaker.
In an interview at the weekend, political analyst Wonderful Mkhutche said the minister has “too much power” .
He said: “He has too much on his plate. He cannot be the SG, Cabinet minister, then Leader of Government Business [in Parliament] and an MP [member of Parliament]. He should leave some positions to others.
“It depends on President Chakwera to act on the matter. In some cases, we don’t have party SGs in the Cabinet because they are supposed to run party business daily. I would urge Chakwera to relive Chimwendo Banda of some of his duties.”
Mkhutche said Chimwendo Banda, aside from being relieved of duties by the President, needs to step aside on his own.
Ironically, Chimwendo Banda’s predecessor Eisenhowever Mkaka was doubling as Cabinet minister before he was left out in a reshuffle last year.
University of Malawi legislative, electoral politics and public policy expert Gift Sambo said Chimwendo Banda, just like Hara, needs to relinquish some power.
He said that power ought to be shared and not confined in the elite few.
Said Sambo: “The cardinal principle in party politics is loyalty and it determines how you rise. People like Chimwendo Banda have demonstrated undoubted party loyalty and he is being made to be in control of various aspects.
“Ideally, we need division of labour because these monopolistic tendencies do not help to create a vibrant organisation.”
He said many times parties are afraid to entrust such leadership positions to people who can ably perform, but are not loyalists.
Said Sambo: “Parties have elitist tendencies, they are oligarchic in nature, they are not democratic as we expect. They aim to ensure order and stability by concentrating power in a few individuals.
“In the context of open and democratic society, we anticipate parties to distribute these leadership positions to various individuals. But our parties are top down, they provide such to people who have blind loyalty to the party.”
A member of the Political Science Association who opted for anonymity also said the status quo represents democratic authoritarianism, as some individuals have too much power in the name of democratic processes.
Said the analyst : “Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It creates fertile ground for political corruption because the same individual is calling shots in the public service, yet he does the same at party level and in Parliament.
“We need to bring an amendment to our Public Service Act, which must redefine the roles of Cabinet, such that members of the Executive arm of government should not double with political party positions. Even a Speaker must not hold a senior party position.”
Chimwendo Banda has not been forthcoming with responses on the matter for several weeks.
Legally, a sitting President appoints someone to lead government business in Parliament, but also as a Cabinet minister. An MP is elected by the electorate, while delegates to a party convention elect an SG. The Leader of the House has traditionally been a serving Cabinet minister.
