Kamlepo says ‘feels good’ to be back for parliamentary duties: Chairs crucial cluster meeting

Outspoken Rumphi East member of Parliament (MP) Kamlepo Kalua on Tuesday said it felt good to be back for parliamentary duties when chaired a crucial cluster meeting in Lilongwe since his account of being abducted for 11 days by suspected regime thugs.

Kalua chaired a Public Accounts  and Budget Committees which had Accoutant General Williams Matambo and his management appearing before it.

According to Standing Order 136, after the presentation if the budget, parliamentary committees go into breakaway sessions where they scrutinise the proposed allocations each ministry or department presented in the national budget.

“This is my first attendance of parliament and it feels good to chair this committee,” said Kalua who was in a grey suit, red tie and brown shoes.

Kalua was found at Kwacha Roundabout in Blantyre recently  after his family reported him missing for 11 days.

But police have dismissed this, concluding that he staged his abduction.

Minister of Information and Communications Technology Nicholas Dausi also told Parliament that Kalua lied about his account of being abducted to garner public sympathy.

Said the minister: “This government will not stand by as someone stages an abduction just to create the narrative that he was tortured and dumped.

“The truth of the matter is [that] he was never abducted. We have this on good authority.”

But the People’s Party (PP) for which Kalua is third vice-president, argues that Kalua was targeted for the worst attack by regime thugs.