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Khwauli defers open terms bill
By
Joseph Langa - 27-06-2002 |
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Member of Parliament for Karonga Nyungwe Khwauli Msiska (Aford) has indefinitely deferred the private members bill he was expected to introduce in Parliament today because of pressure from outside asking for wider consultations before the bill is tabled for debate, Speaker of Parliament Sam Mpasu announced in the House yesterday.
In a letter dated yesterday and read by Mpasu before suspending proceedings for tea break, Msiska said he has decided to suspend the introduction of the bill in Parliament to allow MPs to make wider consultations with their constituents as demanded by the public.
“Following repeated appeals for more time to allow for more extensive consultations on my proposed private members bill, I am persuaded that given the importance of the matter to be tabled, the introduction of both the relevant motion and the bill be deferred to a later date,” read the letter amid booing from the opposition and a dead silence from the government side.
Mpasu continued reading: “In view of the above I, therefore, formerly request you honourable Speaker to defer the tabling and consequent debate on both the motion and the bill to allow the honourable members of Parliament to consult more widely.”
The Speakers announcement came a few hours after Msiska, who Tuesday confirmed that he would table the bill today, received a petition signed by 1,500 people from his Karonga Nyungwe constituency, asking him to drop the bill or announce his immediate resignation as member of Parliament for the area and as an Aford member.
The bill was first scheduled to have been tabled in the House last Thursday but Msiska said he asked for postponement to allow wider consultation on the matter.
Another petition with the same signatories had already been served at the Speaker’s office asking him not to allow the House to discuss the bill.
In the petition, a copy of which The Nation obtained, the constituents argue that the MP had neither consulted them nor the Aford constituency committee of the area hence the need to withdraw the bill.
“Honourable Khwauli is betraying us his constituents, this is a slap on our face, and for sure he has not consulted us to know our views on the amendment. We think we are taken as dimwits to be used for his own political and financial gains.
“We do not support the amendment and, therefore, disassociate ourselves from his utterances. We, therefore, demand that Honourable Khwauli Msiska withdraw his bill. If he does not withdraw the bill then he should resign immediately as our member of Parliament, and from Aford,” reads the letter in part.
In the letter the constituents also argue that amending the constitution would encourage any leader even the incumbent to the prospects of life presidency saying the idea of open term shall not be condoned in Malawi.
In a separate interview, one of the signatories Aubrey Zambika Mkandawire, who said he is a neighbour and relation of the MP, said he personally dropped the letter to the MP yesterday afternoon when he (Msiska) was having a meeting at the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation where he is a board member.
Mkandawire said the idea to petition their MP was purely from the feelings of the people in the area. |
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