MPs irked with cancellation of committee meetings: Malawi govt in travel controls

Members of Parliament from various committees who were scheduled to meet and discuss various issues of national importance, have expressed concern over the way the acting clerk of parliament (ACOP)  has handled himself  in cancellation of the committee meetings.

Various members of Parliament who spoke to Nyasa Times  said they are not happy with the cancellation of the meetings due to lack of funding.

“There are a lot of issues which we need to seriously discuss as committees.  I believe that the ACOP could have left the meetings to continue even without money and  refund the MPs later on,” said one lawmaker.

The committees were scheduled to meet on Monday 17 November,2014.

Some of the committees which were scheduled to meet  include  Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Statutory Committee, Public Appointments Committee(PAC) State Enterprise and Health Committee.

According to the communication  sent via short service message from mobile phone system read, ” Hon MP kindly be informed that the committee meetings scheduled for next week (Monday) have been postponed till further notice due to non funding.”

Malawi government is facing financial difficulties and has since restricted the number of external travels by all government officials to three in every financial year.

Chief Secretary to the Government, George Mkondiwa, in a letter dated November 7 2014 also addressed to Clerk of Parliament, chief executive officers of parastatals, heads of subvented organisations, all chief executive officers, mayors, city chairpersons, municipal, town and district councils limted external travel to three in a financial year.

Government has also stopped sponsoring external training especially if they can be attained locally.