The State Residences vote yesterday faced resistance in Parliament during Committee of Supply as the opposition members of Parliament (MPs) felt the K67 billion allocation was too high.
The protesting legislators said allocating such an amount to the vote is not proper considering the prevailing economic challenges.
They argued that some of the funds could be used by the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) to procure maize.
Moving the motion, Blantyre City South legislator Sameer Suleman (Democratic Progressive Party-DPP) said the vote needed to be reduced
He said: “Vote 050 State Residences be allocated K20 billion so that it is reduced by K47 billion and the amount be allocated to Admarc for the purchase of 1 183 000 bags of maize to assist people who are facing hunger.”
But the motion generated a debate as some members wondered whether it did not contravene Standing Orders that mandate only the Finance Minister to increase or reduce funding allocated to a vote.
However, the motion was defeated after 76 MPs supported it against 50 MPs, which resulted in the adoption of the vote.
