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No budget yet for next sitting
By
Gedion Munthali - 08-05-2002 |
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Parliament does not yet have a budget for its next sitting which resumes on May 31 because it has not yet received a time table, Clerk of Parliament Roosevelt Gondwe said yesterday.
“It is only after we receive the timetable that we can determine how long the sitting will take, and then we will sit down to cost that period,” said Gondwe, when quizzed on the budget for the coming session.
The sitting was carried forward in March because Parliament failed to raise about K32 million. However, Speaker Sam Mpasu told a local daily last week that Finance Minister Friday Jumbe promised to set aside funding for the sitting.
Constitutional Lawyer, Modecai Msisha, suggested last week that MPs could organise themselves and meet to discuss allocation of the country’s resources without expecting to be paid, as that is a national duty, which must be treated as an obligation.
The next sitting is expected to consider a bill seeking an annual review of salaries of the President and the Vice President which have not been reviewed since the current administration assumed office.
The House will also consider a bill seeking to amend the constitution to make the Ombudsman answerable to Parliament when it seeks clarification on some of the decisions the office takes.
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