Speaker looks to courts on Section 65

Malawians should not expect any action soon from Speaker of Parliament Henry Chimunthu-Banda against Members of Parliament (MPs) who crossed the floor because court injunctions still lord over him.

The Speaker said this when he briefed journalists on the progress of the six-week second sitting of the 43rd session of the Malawi Parliament currently underway in the capital, Lilongwe.

Several court injunctions obtained by MPs deemed to have crossed the floor have impeded the Speaker from invoking Section 65 of the Constitution which empowers him to declare vacant seats of legislators who win elections on a party ticket but join another party or organisation or association that is political in nature.

“As of now, the update is that Attorney General has amalgamated all injunctions on the matter…In April and May, our lawyer has gone to Mzuzu twice to attend to preliminary matters,” he said, adding that he hoped the Attorney General’s chambers will do something soon.

As the Speaker explained his position on Section 65, it was being announced in Parliament that one more member, Fredrick Kamwangala of Lilongwe North West, has quit opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to join government benches.

Over 50 MPs, most of them from DPP who are now serving the ruling People’s Party (PP), risk losing their seats if the Speaker applies the section.

On other matters, the Speaker said it is highly unlikely that the 18 bills remaining on the schedule of the current Parliament sitting will be tabled. So far, 10 bills have been passed.

During this sitting, MPs also confirmed the new Auditor General Stephenson Kamphasa, apart from completing debate on President Joyce Banda’s State of the Nation Address.

In the past four weeks, the Speaker has made a number of rulings including that MPs cannot use laptops in chamber, and that ministers who are not MPs have freedom in the House to pronounce themselves on government policy.

The Speaker’s briefing is a result of a meeting between Parliament and editors where it was agreed that the legislative body should brief the press on progress of various issues at Parliament, including business in the chamber.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ken Lipenga has wound up general debate on the budget prior to sending Parliament into debating the budget vote by vote.