Speaker has one petition
Speaker of the Malawi National Assembly Henry Chimunthu Banda has said despite media reports of many petitions flooding the august House, by on Monday his office had only received one presented by the Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama).
The Speaker said there are set procedures petitioners are supposed to follow as per standing orders, explaining that as the Speaker, he is not supposed to be directly petitioned.
Chimunthu Banda said Cama, the consumer body that petitioned Parliament on May 30 through Malawi Congress Party (MCP) parliamentarian Joseph Njobvuyalema, followed all the set procedures and he would refer it to the Business Committee of Parliament for consideration.
He said: “So far this is the only petition that has reached my office and Honourable Njobvuyalema has owned it. Members of the public are supposed to petition the House on any issue they have and these petitions are supposed to be submitted to a member of Parliament or a group [of legislators].
“The MP or that group is supposed to own that petition and it is referred to the Clerk of Parliament. Then the MP puts it on the floor if there is space.”
The Speaker said after all the procedures are followed, a petition can be circulated in the House for perusal by the legislators, referred to a particular committee of Parliament by the Clerk of Parliament or debated in the House.
Blantyre urban teachers on June 1 this year, through a registered mail, directly petitioned the Speaker on grievances they have against Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, but is among the petitions that have not come to the Speaker’s attention.
In the petition The Nation has seen, the teachers have raised issues of salary review, promotions and loan remittances which they want the ministry to address before they will take unspecified action should government not address them.
The teachers complain of delayed salaries and the small salary increase that was offered and Finance Minister’s failure to mention anything to that effect when he presented a 2013/14 National Budget.
Representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) last Friday petitioned Parliament as did students from two closed University of Malawi (Unima) constituent colleges, Chancellor College and The Polytechnic last Thursday.
