Malawi Parliament was on Monday thrown into chaos and an exchange of vulgar and swear words after Second Deputy Speaker Juliana Mphande gave a ‘yes’ vote to the passing of the vote for State Residences despite opposition protests and demands for a division on the vote.
The vote is seeking an approval of K3.7 billion (about $9.2m) as State Residences’ 2013/14 budget allocation, which has increased by almost K2 billion (about $5m) from last year’s budget and has been one centre of protests among analysts since Malawi Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga presented the budget.
The exchange of swear words, which did not spare the Second Deputy Speaker herself, led to Karonga South Member of Parliament (MPs) Glad Chembe Munthali to be thrown out of the House after Mphande invoked section 103 of the standing orders.
Business came to a standstill for almost one and a half hours as both sides of the House failed to compromise on the way forward.
The State Residences allocation, on vote number 050, was the first to be introduced in the Committee of Supply stage soon after the House resumed sitting Monday afternoon.
After brief contributions from MPs who included MCP spokesperson on finance Joseph Njobvuyalema and Thyolo South West’s Allan Chiyembekeza and a response from Lipenga, the Second Deputy Speaker put a question on whether the House agreed with the allocation.
However, the House was divided over the ‘yes’ and the ‘no’ votes and as soon as Mphande ruled the vote for the ‘yes’, several members from the opposition stood up calling for a division that could have allowed the vote to go into a roll call.
In the commotion that followed, Mphande ordered out Chembe Munthali on accusation that his comments reflected on the chair.
The House was further thrown into disrepute after again it was observed that although the ruling on standing order 103 was made on the Speaker’s chair, the Second Deputy Speaker did not have the Speaker’s head gear on. At this point the House had to be adjourned for an early tea break.
After tea break, it was Speaker Henry Chimunthu Banda who brought the House to order. He pleaded with the members to be orderly and avoid comments that reflect on the Speaker or even when the Speaker is the chair of a Committee of Supply.
Njobvuyalema in an interview said that although the State House vote has passed it was clear that it has passed amidst protests from the House.
