Anti-Bakili Muluzi / MALAWI POLITICS TODAY

House conduct sickening
By The Daily Times - 24 July 2007 - 09:08:50

One would have thought that with the two-week suspension of the House over the indecent deadlock on Section 65, upright reasoning would have prevailed on our honourable Members of Parliament (MPs) from the opposition and they would have now settled on the best thing, which should come first in the House, the budget or Section 65.

Sadly, after starting their deliberations at 2 pm, our honourable legislators Monday ended their meeting prematurely for the simple reason that the opposition have stuck to their guns that come Parliament, Section 65 should be dealt with first ahead of the budget.

It all seems very vividly now that the more time elapses, the more the opposition harden their hearts and the more the deadlock continues. As a country, we cannot move forward like this!

It is more than clear from the views from various stakeholders, too numerous to mention, and it has been said over a thousand times that what the country needs at the moment is nothing less than the budget. The reasoning behind this is not political, but it is a question of the country’s very survival. The danger, as the clock ticks on and time flies away is that the country is headed for a gargantuan manmade social-economic catastrophe if this impasse does not get to an end.

This is so because our budget has a time factor in that there are certain programmes in the budget, for arguments’ sake the fertiliser subsidy programme, that better be executed as soon as possible before it is too late.

But one would dismiss this assertion as nothing new at all. Yes, it has been said over and over again, but we need to say it this time around too because it appears the message has not sunk in the hearts of our honourable opposition legislators.

It only requires one simple solution in the House, and that is for one side to eat a humble pie and put to the fore an issue that is for the national interest’s sake, and as Public Affairs Committee (Pac) states implicitly, that is the budget.

Yes indeed Section 65 is equally important, but in the meantime, in light of the injunction on the Speaker restraining him to declare any seats of MPs vacant, should lives of millions of Malawians be held at ransom for the same Section 65?

Frankly, the premature suspension of the House yesterday is really sickening, it’s so frustrating and we are getting tired with this impasse. Malawians need the budget much more now than before this section 65 fiasco started in June. It’s time for our honourable legislators to rise above party politics and strive to attain the general good-the budget.