Malawi Parliment in stitches as Mussa takes over Chaponda ministerial duties
Malawi Parliament was thrown in stitches on Tuesday when Minister of Labour, Youth and Manpower Development, Henry Mussa took over the responding of questions meant for the embattled Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda .
Chaponda, who is serving a High Court ordered suspension, was not in the House.
The minister who is also Mulanje South West MP (Democratic Progressive Party-DPP) said he had been attending a funeral of a relative on thus he could not make it to Parliament on Tuesday as he was travelling to Lilongwe.
He has however confirmed to meet the MPs on Wednesday in the joint parliamentary inquiry committee on maizegate.
Mussa, who is the government chief whip in the House, managed to respond to the first question through a written response from the ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development but threw out all the supplementary questions, saying they were new questions all together which needed to be filed and put on Order Paper, the daily paper which details business of the day in the 193 strong House.
This did not go down well with some legislators, who described as abnormal the way Mussa was answering questions.
One member of parliament said people in his area, Malingunde in Lilongwe, do not have piped water yet Lilongwe Water Board was able to make a “donation” of K10 million to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
There was no response from the government side.
Speaker of the National Assembly Richard Msowoya on Monday recognised Kondwani Nankhumwa as the care taker Leader of the House.
Nankhumwa’s own position of deputy Leader of the House also came under spotlight on Monday when it transpired it does not exist under the Parliamentary Standing Orders along with positions of deputy party whips.
This was after Kasungu West legislator Alex Major (MCP) reminded the Speaker that the Standing Orders do not recognise the existence of the ‘deputy leader of the House’ position.
The Business Committee, the political leadership of the House will decide the fate of the positions on Wednesday.
The House on Tuesday started with question time.
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Malawi wa moto iweeee umbava 2much!
Chaponda Maizegate was last seen welcoming the president at Kamzu Barracks during interdenominational prayers aamen tueday..he is a liar.
Kikikiki! The foolish MP does not know that LWB does not pump water from Malingunde where the dams are.
The water is taken from the Lilongwe river for purification and pumping right at the place where LWB offices are located!
Shadows following the owners. Zidzayamba kuyenda bwino anthu akadzasiya kuba. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand and pretend. This country needs divine interventions
God forbid
That’s the problem of our so called MPS they are there just to attack each other instead of working together for betterment of our mother land. pa Zambian pompa apa zawo zikunda bwino
Zosautsa!