…. Speaker accused of undermining House rules
… Parliament caught stealing personal files of Deputy Clerk
…Ministers threaten MPs with arrests
Malawi Parliamentarians are now becoming famous for all things not so honourable- acting and releasing porn movies, boxing each other, and the Speaker of Parliament who is hell-bent on using the house to advance her political career.
Even with millions of Malawians facing food shortages and being squeezed by the high cost of living and devaluation, parliamentarians such as Chitipa South MP Welani Chilenga are more worried about old people running as president, a personalised game of tit-for-tat with former President Peter Mutharika who expelled them from the DPP. The insensitivity of prioritising political battles and issues relevant to Malawians is the main characteristic of this Parliament.
Malawi has been degenerating economically and socially. Only one or two parliamentarians- namely Sameer Suleiman of Blantyre City East and Rumphi East MP Kamlepo Kalua seem to have been in front to seek answers from the government.
At times, Mzimba North MP Yeremiah Chihana and Thyolo Central MP Ben Phiri have stood up and questioned the government to account for its decisions, some of which have left Malawians worse off than at the start of the Tonse Alliance administration under President Lazarus Chakwera.
Even accountability committees like the Public Accounts Committee, Legal Affairs, and some short-lived inquiries related to public procurement, corruption, and even wrong appointments have all gone unchecked, and allegations of bribery are rife, especially among Chairpersons of influential committees.
The house, whose tenure was supposed to end this year- five years after being elected, got lucky with the Presidential re-run of elections, but the longest-ever tenure of Parliament has been reduced to a disgraceful lot that Malawians have very little to point out any issues that it has debated to support their welfare.
Speaker and Chimwendo have reduced Parliament to an MCP branch.
“There have been partisan parliaments, but even with an absolute DPP majority between 2009 and 2014, the Speaker never sank low to turn the house into a branch of his party as done by Speaker Catherine Gotani NyaHara. Post one-party state, her ability to stifle parties’ wish to advance the political goals of the few undermines the office,” a former long-serving parliamentarian noted when asked by The Investigator Magazine about the performance of the incumbent.
Gotani NyaHara, the first woman Speaker of Parliament, was welcomed with goodwill just like President Chakwera, but alongside Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda, they have upstaged Parliament and do not allow parliamentarians to express themselves freely.
“Most MPs have gone quiet. The Speaker acts like a branch chairperson of MCP to please her party and elect her as vice president. She forgets that for her to win at the national level, she needs to convince Malawians she represents their interests, not MCP,” a sitting MP noted.
The Speaker does not tolerate dissent.
Speakers Late Rodwell Munyenyembe, Late Sam Mpasu and Loius Chimango were the most independent Heads of the Legislature, and parliamentarians such as Afords Rodger Nkhwazi, Green Lulilo Mwamondwe and Sam Kandodo Banda then of Alliance for Democracy, Kennedy Kuntenga, Phillip Bwanali, Roy Commsy and late Dumbo Lemani for UDF and Hetherwick Ntaba, Sailasi Gulule and Joseph Njobvuyalema for Malawi Congress Party who caused mayhem at frequent intervals were rarely sent out of the chambers.
“The Speakers, even Davies Katsonga, who had to endure Rodger Nkhwazi’s proclamation that the hat he was wearing was too small for his head, were rarely sent out. The Speakers had intellectual stamina and challenged those making allegations to substantiate their allegations. This time, the Speaker seems emotional and does not tolerate dissent. MPs are scared to raise any issue,” commented a sitting MP.
Speakers Munyenyembe, Chimango, and Henry Chimunthu Banda were well known for taking jokes and rebutting them. They also insisted on decorum and following procedures. They Chaired business committees impartially.
“Ministers could be ruled out of order, and opposition members of Parliament felt protected. The incumbent can’t stand the heat and uses 105 and some strange punishments to bar people like Sameer Sulieman from the rest of Parliament. She should be reminded that she is just a chairperson of Parliament and an MP, just like the rest. Her term and record is wanting,” said another senior parliamentarian.
“If she has to send out people every day, it means she can’t manage the house. She only follows standing orders to prevent MPs from representing their constituents freely,” a DPP MP charged.
Parties, standing orders reduced to nothing
For an institution known as a House of Records and Procedure, the disregard of standing orders and reduction of its own powers to serve the Malawi Congress Party agenda makes the current Parliament one of the most irrelevant governance institutions.
The government has had a free hand in issuing sovereign guarantees to crooked businesses, failing the Secretary to the President and Cabinet to appear before a parliamentary inquiry, and burying of Fertiliser gate, NOCMA gate, MACRA and MERA recruitment scandals by Parliament.
Parliament, now a branch of the MCP, approves the burden to taxpayers, allowing the Treasury to borrow K104 billion to give to the ruling parties’ main donor without proper scrutiny and approving allocations to State Residences, questionable character appointments and loans without scrutiny.
Parliament, under the current Speaker, is breaking its own standing orders by maintaining a Leader of Opposition not appointed by the largest party after the ruling party and protecting selected pro-MCP parliamentary chairpersons.
Standing orders, which are House Rules formulated under Section 56 (1) of the Malawi Constitution, are clear on the election and removal of the Leader of Opposition, but currently, Parliament is playing tag in the same fashion as committees.
Standing order 35. (1) states, “The Leader of Opposition shall be elected by the party not in Government having the greatest numerical strength in Parliament at any point in time and officially announced as such by the Speaker.”
Parliament’s rules on removing the Leader of Opposition state under Standing Order 36, “The Leader of Opposition may only be removed by the party that elected him or her. Provided that where the Leader of Opposition was elected as in Rule 35 (2), the Opposition side in the Assembly may remove the Leader of the Opposition through a caucus of all Members of the Opposition side in the Assembly.”
According to two opposition legislators, parties have submitted names of members they want to represent in various committees through their whips. Still, the Speaker and the Business committee she chairs have been trying hard to maintain current chairpersons who tow to the MCP line.
This is in contravention of standing order 152. (2) which gives parties through Party Whips to submit to the Business Committee names of Members of their parties for designation to Committee Membership:- Provided that a Member may indicate to the party whips his or her interest in serving on a particular Committee depending on their competencies.
The standing order continues that a Member shall serve on a Committee for the duration of that Committee unless- (a) he or she resigns from that office by intimating his or her resignation to the Business Committee; 120 (b) a Party Whip recommends to the Business Committee to replace the Member or remove him or her from the Committee.
“These are parliamentary norms; we hear they want to bring a motion to extend the tenure of Chairs just to accommodate a few politicians. This Parliament is very bizarre; it doesn’t respect its own rules,” another MP charged.
But bizarre things are happening at Parliament, including stealing and attempting to change the personal files of the pro-MCP clerks.
A Clerk retires, claims due, Speaker orders file change
One of the Clerks below the Clerk of Parliament recently retired and applied for part payment of his gratuity, but he has been doing dirty work at Parliament for the Speaker and Chimwendo Banda; if he leaves, they are not sure if they will be able to control Parliament.
A senior parliament official said what was happening was “pure fraud and theft” facilitated by the Speaker’s office, which chairs the Parliamentary Services Commission. Staff were now alarmed at the rate of disregard for rules within the institution.
“The Clerk received his dues. They went to the Department of Human Resources and literally stole his personal file, removing the National Identity and passport so that his true date of birth was hidden. Karma had it that the details were not removed at Parliament,” said our source.
A second person said the Speaker and Chimwendo Banda had a right to retain the retired official as a consultant, but opting for fraud, where one retires and is extended illegally, was risky for the two.
“They hid the information and want to extend his stay until 2026. Nobody can believe this,” said another long-serving parliament official.
The Investigator Magazine has deliberately withheld the name of the official who is now under pressure to return his retirement benefits to the Treasury because he made the mistake of “retiring before time.”
