Chaponda wants donors to intervene in the standoff at Parliament
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Parliamentarian, George Chaponda has appealed for the donors to intervene on what he called “Parliament’s growing undemocratic tendencies”.
Speaking to the press amidst some DPP MPs’ protest at the Parliament entrance, Chaponda stressed that Parliament needs to be forced back into line or else the country stands to lose more including wastage of resources.
Said Chaponda: “We are appealing to donors who are proponents of democracy to come to our rescue. They give a lot of monetary support to Malawi government and if things continue like this, such funds stand to be abused.”
He said that by being outside the House it meant that Parliament was without the Opposition block which provides checks and balances to government, adding that, “we don’t know what the Speaker wants to do by keeping us outside the House.”
Chaponda alleged that the whole issue is being orchestrated by the Attorney General who, in a normal setup he is not supposed to interfere with Parliament.
Said Chaponda, “Why are we saying that? Parliament had taken a decision which was appropriate in the first place but the AG came out with a legal opinion to misguide the House. The AG is not supposed to interfere with Parliament business and this is happening for the first time in Malawi and the entire Commonwealth countries.”
Chaponda was referring to how Parliament has been moving with the issue of the Leader of Opposition.
She is on record having referred to an advice given to her office by the Attorney General on how to proceed on the matter.
One of the MPs who were barred from entering the Parliament premises, Mary Navicha said that she was fearing for her constituents and her life and lives of fellow 23 MPs.
Upon arriving at the Parliament gates, she said that there were many Police officers who conducted themselves suspiciously.
Said Navicha, “We found many men dressed in Police uniform and we are not sure if these are indeed the Police. Anything can happen to us here. We want the people who sent us here to know that their rights have been breached. They sent us to represent them in the House and we are being stopped from entering the House.”
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