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The civil society has expressed concern over the just ended sitting of Parliament, saying the three extra days have been a waste of resources.
Last week media reports quoted Malawi Watch as asking government not to extend the sitting arguing that it would be a waste.
Malawi Watch’s Billy Banda said on Wednesday it has taken long for members of Parliament (MPs) to realise their role and the importance of society as a whole.
“Much as we appreciate that this week the MPs discussed important issues, we are saying they have risen up too late. The issues they discussed this week could have been discussed within the allocated days and this could have saved resources,” said Banda.
He added that the rejection of the Mary Nangwale as the Inspector General (IG) of police contributed much to the delay, saying, “if the IG issue was deliberated within the allocated time, there would have been no need to extend the session.”.
“Last Monday, Parliament was adjourned after 20 minutes due to the same IG issue, can they say this was a prudent utilisation of resources?” queried Banda, adding that both time and money had been wasted.
Human Rights Consultative Committee executive director Rodgers Newa said the sitting has not been to the expectation of the society because most tangible issues were not tackled.
“The extension has not really been worth it. People were expecting our MPs to discuss more tangible issues like hunger which was not thoroughly discussed,” said Newa.
And clerk of Parliament Roosevelt Gondwe admitted on Wednesday that the extension has cost more money.
“Yes it is true. An extension means more money and this has cost close to K11 million ($101,851),” said Gondwe.
According to leader of government business in the house Yusuf Mwawa, out of the planned business for the sitting, five bills have not been debated and will be carried to the next sitting.
“Among the five is the money laundering bill and the penal code amendment bill,” said Mwawa.
He added that considering the time, Parliament has done enough business, saying “a lot of business is put on order papers but not everything can be discussed.”.
On Tuesday, Mwawa said the cost is not that big as government tried its best to spend to the minimum considering the fact that it was working with the opposition which was in majority.
On wasting time, UDF leader in Parliament Leonard Mangulama said on Tuesday the MPs did not spend time on useless things but on issues for the benefit of the country and democracy, saying: “refusing to confirm the IG should be taken as democracy at work because one cannot just endorse everything that government brings forward.”
MCP’s Betson Majoni also said on Tuesday some of the arguments would bring positive results, citing the loan issue as an example.
“Government said it would give people K1 billion loan but we said the money was not enough and had to be increased to K5 billion,” he said.
On Nangwale, Majoni said it was a situation where people had opposing views and it took democracy to solve the situation adding that democracy is expensive to manage.
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