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Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe assured Parliament on Wednesday that government would soon start construction of a chamber at the new site followed by other auxiliary buildings.
Gondwe’s assurance came after various members expressed fear that they would soon have no home considering that they have been given up to October 15 to vacate the New State House.
Gondwe said the $1.8 million that has been added to the National Assembly allocation, together with the allocation to the ministry of Housing would partly be used for that purpose.
“The decision to build a new parliament came quite late when budget documents were already prepared. Nonetheless, our intention is to put up a
chamber and other auxiliary buildings would follow later. We want to come up with something decent within our means,” said Gondwe.
He said within six months, there would be progress on the building and if need be, they would come up with a supplementary budget to ensure that the chamber is completed.
Gondwe also assured the House that architectural drawings for the new parliament would have to be first approved by the House.
Leader of Opposition John Tembo had earlier indicated that it was not clear when construction would start and how much it would cost.
“The minister did not give an estimate of how many months or years this parliament would take. We want to know all these things. We want to move to desirable parliament,” said Tembo.
MP for Mzimba West Loveness Gondwe said for transparency’s sake, government should come out in the open and disclose how much it would cost to build the new parliament and where the money would come from.
This allocation to the National Assembly was made when Parliament had a home. Now we are homeless, we do not know where we are going. I understand Chief M’mbelwa building is very expensive, so [$1.8 million] for construction to me is not enough,” said Gondwe.
George Ntafu, MP for Likoma Island, said the building should have offices, a chamber and all the required infrastructure.
“I would like for the first time to agree with the Leader of Opposition. We do not want a simple parliament with a small chamber. We want something
big,” said Ntafu, attracting applause from the House.
A source at the New State House, however, said if there is to be an emergency meeting and the chamber is not completed, the House would meet there even though the President will have occupied the premises.
“The President would move to Lilongwe State Lodge temporarily if the House decides to meet before the chamber is completed for security purposes and the House would use the chamber at New State House,” said the source.
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