POLITICS-MALAWI: Budget Held Hostage to Squabbling Parliamentarians

By Pilirani Semu-Banda Reprint | | Print |

Pilirani Semu-Banda

BLANTYRE, Aug 30 2007 (IPS) - Malawi’s national budget, scheduled to pass in June, is in limbo following a parliamentary impasse – and there are fears that government services may be halted through lack of funding.

Public expenses were only covered last month after parliament authorised the finance minister to spend up to eight million dollars, this after government had requested 32 million dollars to fund the civil service for four months.

Already, there is the possibility of a drug shortage at the country’s biggest referral hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and elsewhere.

Hospital administrator Thom Chisale says the medical centre usually gets government funding in the first week of every month, but that difficulties with the budget sitting have meant a delayed allocation for the month of August. Without funds, decisions cannot be made about drug procurement, he notes: “The effect of this will be a massive shortage of drugs around the country any time soon. All services at the hospital will suffer. If the budget is not passed soon, we have a crisis looming.”

Workers in the public service – the country’s biggest employer, with 120,000 on the pay roll – are concerned about where this month’s salary cheque will come from, if the budget crisis continues.

“The damage that could be caused if we don’t receive our salaries would be unimaginable; we have a lot of bills to settle, including rent,” says Civil Service Trade Union President Thomas Banda, warning that public workers will sue government if they do not get paid at the end of August.

The vote on the 1.2 billion dollar budget was initially delayed by the death of Malawian first lady Ethel Mutharika, who passed away in May.

Budget proceedings were then derailed in a political wrangle sparked by a Jun. 15 ruling of the Supreme Court, authorising the parliamentary speaker to expel lawmakers who had defected from the parties they belonged to when elected to the National Assembly in 2004.

President Bingu wa Mutharika had himself deserted the United Democratic Front (UDF) after falling out with his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, later forming his own political grouping, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP); this came just eight months after he was elected head of state. Mutharika’s actions effectively transformed the UDF from Malawi’s ruling party into an opposition group alongside the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the largest opposition grouping in the legislature.

While Mutharika’s presidential seat will not be affected by the ruling, up to 60 members of parliament (MPs) who joined the DPP risk losing their positions. The court’s decision could leave Mutharika’s party with as little as five MPs.

One of the affected legislators, Yunus Mussa, later obtained an injunction restraining the speaker from acting on Supreme Court’s decision. This angered opposition parliamentarians, who are now a majority in the 193-strong body: MCP leader John Tembo refused to discuss the national budget until the injunction obtained by Mussa was vacated.

The political stand-off deepened Jul. 24, when the DPP lost a motion to debate and pass the budget while matters pertaining to the injunction were being resolved by the courts. This led to a further suspension of proceedings.

Parliament met again Aug. 13 after Mutharika wrote to parliamentary speaker Louis Chimango, warning him to reconvene the National Assembly to discuss the budget or risk closure of all parliamentary business. Although opposition parties argued that the president had no mandate to dictate the agenda of the legislature, they heeded his call and started participating in the budget talks.

While debate is still underway, it is not known whether the budget will be approved any time soon. Parliamentary proceedings continue to be marred by verbal battles between the opposing parties, and speaker Chimango has warned that he will resign if the MPs persist with their rowdy behaviour.

Many Malawians, including members of civil society, have been angered by the National Assembly’s conduct.

Rights activist Rafiq Hajat says the current situation is unnecessary, and that legislators should resolve matters quickly and pass the budget before the country is thrown into economic disarray. “The absence of a budget will inevitably militate against donor aid inflows,” he notes.

The British government, Malawi’s biggest bilateral donor, has already appealed to the warring forces to resolve their differences. London provides the Southern African country with about 141 million dollars annually.

“We urge all political leaders to engage in constructive dialogue in an effort to reach a compromise as soon as possible,” says Lewis Kulisewa, spokesperson for the British High Commission.

Hajat says the country may also see its currency, the kwacha, slipping on international markets, and that this will raise prices of essential commodities such as food, fuel and fertilizer – a blow to the many citizens battling poverty. According to the United Nations Development Programme, 65 percent of the country’s 12 million people live below the poverty line of a dollar a day.

Daily demonstrations have been taking place around Malawi in protest against the impasse, including a 24-hour vigil by a group of 65 non-governmental organisations held for a time near parliament.

The leader of the vigil, Undule Mwakasungula, accuses politicians across the board of being “very arrogant and not having the welfare of the people at heart”.

Members of the public have also been making noise every day using car horns, bicycle bells and whistles for 15 seconds at 7.30, 12.30 and 17.30 local time, to protest against parliament’s failure to pass the national budget.

In addition, university students worried that education facilities may be closed if the budget is not dealt with have been staging protests which turned violent Aug. 6, causing one student and three opposition MPs to be injured.