Dausi courts controversy in Parliament
Mwanza Central parliamentarian, Nicholas Dausi on Friday was a centre of controversy in the chamber during contributions on 2012/2013 National Budget.
Dausi stood to contribute to the budget which was presented by Minister of Finance, Dr. Ken Lipenga on June 8, 2012.
Before he started contributing towards the budget statement, Dausi ridiculed ex- Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) parliamentarians that have since defected to People’s Party (PP), saying they regard themselves as angels while others on opposition side as devils.
“I have respect for honourable [Henry] Phoya, [Anita] Kalinde and [Jennifer] Chilunga for boldly telling late President [Bingu wa Mutharika] what was wrong and what was right. Today, some people want to consider themselves as angels and others devils.
“Let me remind you that many of you were praising Bingu in the same august House. I have the recordings here with me,” Dausi said, as government benches were demanding to play those audio recordings.
The DPP spokesperson also accused government of celebrating the death of late president Mutharika, saying the new regime should know that there haven’t been elections to put them in power but rather circumstances.
“You are busy celebrating for coming into power yet you came into power after the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika. Please, try to respect our former president,” he explained.
This prompted Minister of Energy and Mining, Dr. Cassim Chilumpha to question Dausi’s seriousness on recordings, saying it was illegal for anyone to record secretly proceedings of parliament as it warrants one to face lawsuits.
“What honourable Member of Parliament for Mwanza Central has done is illegal. Is he serious with his recordings since he was holding an electronic device?
“It is illegal for anyone to record the proceedings privately,” Chilumpha charged as Dausi only backed out and referred to Parliamentary Hansard as his source of recordings he meant.
In his remarks, Information and Civic Education Minister Moses Kunkuyu clarified that people were not celebrating the death of Mutharika, but rather change that has happened.
“Isaiah chapter six says: in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. People celebrate for the change and this is the case with Malawians,” Kunkuyu said to the applause of government benches.
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