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| National |
| MPs seek Speaker’s exit over loans |
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by
Edwin Nyirongo, 03 March 2007
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03:38:43
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Some Members of Parliament are mobilising support in the House to remove Speaker of Parliament Louis Chimango for allegedly denying them loans, a Cabinet minister has confirmed.
The minister said MPs were mobilising to impeach the Speaker over loans. He said a lot of MPs supporting government have been approached on the issue but they have not indicated to him whether or not they will support the motion.
The threat to impeach Chimango comes barely a day after MP for Blantyre South West Gerald Mponda filed a motion to remove Clerk of Parliament Matilda Katopola from her position for allegedly working with the Executive, disrespecting the MPs and abuse of office.
Chimango, through his personal assistant Henry Kamata, said he could not comment because the issue of loans for MPs was on Thursday being handled by the Business Committee of Parliament.
“The Honourable Speaker says the loans issue is being handled by the Business Committee of Parliament and that he could not comment at present,” said Kamata.
On Thursday, members of the Business Committee, minus government, met to discuss the loan issue to find a way forward. They agreed that Parliament should give the MPs the loans as long as they can pay back.
Leader of Government in the House Henry Chimunthu Banda confirmed the government side did not attend the meeting, blaming it on time.
“The Business Committee meeting was called at 9:30 am when Parliament was in session. We thought that was irregular because that meant all leaders of political parties and their Chief Whips would have been out of Parliament. But we sent our apologies to the Speaker,” he said.
Chimunthu Banda said there was no reason for impeaching the Speaker because all money transactions are conducted through the Treasury.
“Decisions on financial matters are done by the Treasury and the COP is only a controlling officer. He cannot decide on loans on her own,” he said.
Banda said that most MPs take home pay was not enough to service loans especially during the remaining period. He, however, said the MPs that will be able to finish repaying the loans before the end of their term are welcome to take the loans.
Section 53 (3)(d) states that the Speaker can only be impeached by two-thirds of the votes by all members of the national assembly.
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