Speaker of the National Assembly Sameer Suleman has challenged legislators to go beyond debates in the House and instead set out to track allocations of public resources against implementation on the ground.
The Speaker said at the opening of the second cohort of the Parliamentary Training Programme in Lilongwe yesterday that parliamentary committees should regularly undertake field trips to monitor implementation of government projects as well as how the funds approved in the national budget are spent.
| George Singini
Suleman said oversight is Parliament’s “main goal” and called for more discussion on how members of Parliament (MPs) can effectively scrutinise government’s spending and programmes.
He said: “As Parliament, we are not saying we are police, but we should behave like police, especially on following up public resources, how they are being used and how they are being spent.
“Our committees should be on the ground, visiting and making sure that the budgets that we are passing are trickling down and resources are being used for the intended purpose.”
Suleman said Parliament will invest more in oversight programmes whose effectiveness should be measured by how well it performs this constitutional function.
“Parliament can only be judged through the oversight role that it is conducting. It is not witch-hunting or trying to put someone in trouble, but to make sure that what Malawians expect from their government is well maintained and managed,” the Speaker said.
He said the three-week training programme was a strategic investment in Parliament’s effectiveness because it empowers MPs to perform their core functions of legislation, oversight and representation.
The training programme covers the Constitution, powers and privileges, the legal framework governing Parliament, law-making, governance, democracy and human rights as well as local government administration, among other areas.
Parliament is conducting the training in five cohorts to ensure all 227 MPs in the 229-seat National Assembly benefit. Two constituencies remain vacant following court-sanctioned fresh elections initially set for September 29 2026 but have since been postponed.
The first cohort already completed the programme, with 55 MPs taking part in the second cohort which will run for three weeks, afterwhich three more cohorts.
Suleman asked Parliament secretariat to ensure that the remaining cohorts are completed within the next two months, saying MPs should not have to wait years after entering office to receive essential training.
Malawi School of Government (MSG) director general Professor Lewis Dzimbiri said the programme will help MPs to serve Malawians more effectively, describing investment in parliamentary capacity as an investment in the country’s governance.
“We believe that the quality of national development is directly proportional to the quality of human capital,” he said.
Dzimbiri said strengthening MPs’ leadership skills, ethical grounding and technical expertise would contribute to Malawi’s future development.
He assured Parliament of MSG’s commitment to providing quality training and supporting efforts to strengthen legislation and governance.
The Parliamentary Training Programme dates back to the early 1990s and has over the years played a key role in building the capacity of legislators and improving the quality of debate and decision-making in the House.
Besides legislative powers, Parliament provides oversight through its standing committees such as Budget and Finance, Public Accounts, Public Appointments and Legal Affairs.
