Opposition cries over spilt milk on Malawi Land bill
Opposition members of parliament returned to the Chamber on Tuesday afternoon after a brief protest walk out just to find the government had passed the controversial Land Bill in their absence.
They fiercely demanded that the passing of the bill be reversed, saying they had amendments to make.
Rumphi east MP Kamlepo Kalua and other opposition backbenchers cried foul that the bill could not be passed in the state it was, saying it favoured tea estate owners and other commercial farmers with sways of land.
However, Leader of the House George Chaponda calmy told the House it was impossible to recall a bill after it had already been passed.
He said he had agreed with Leader of Opposition Lazarus Chakwera on the issue.
“The matter has been resolved. There is an agreement with the Leader of opposition,” said Chaponda.
The debate took almost one hour as the government and opposition sides agreed to disagree as the opposition wanted to have the amendments made to an already passed bill.
Chakwera confirmed having met Chaponda over the matter but accused government of back stabbing and ambushing asking why the government decided to pass the bill after the opposition had walked out.
However the matter calmed and the legislators went on to debate on another Land bill concerning Physical Planning which has since been passed without problems.
After the opposition left, did a quorum of MPs remain to legally pass the bill? If there was no quorum then the bill cannot become law.
Parliament is above the law!!
Bwana,
That is very true!!
You have made my day.
That is the problem with Malawi, everyone believes in blackmail.
Did the opposition not know the rules?
I understand they also walked out of the infamous MK577 billion after hearing what they did not want to hear.
You can not pick and choose what rules to respect and cry foul later.
This country has too many fools in high positions masquerading as leaders.
I know for a fact you will be crying rigging when DPP wins in 2019, because of this kind of stupidity.
But when you look at the situation on the ground you discover that those who voted unwisely are the ones who suffer in mass. Take the Nsanje situation, nobody in Nsanje voted MCP so the question is not who wins the election. The question is who suffers for this stupidity. If indeed you are happy to be rulers despite the dire food situation in the lomwe and sena belt fair enough. After all you have enough zitchetche and mice to feed on. So you might have acted cleverly by passing that bill despite the stiff opposition but it is the… Read more »
Very good and simply put. Omwe akuvota chifukwa choti munthuyo mwayandikana naye ndiamene yikuwakunthitsa njala ndi umphawi.kkkkkkk! Amayesa adziwapeza m’manyumba awo nkumawagawira ufa ndi mchere. Siiiiizoooo mwaziona!
That is what democracy is, you go by the majority whether that majority is misinformed or not. Are you not following what is happening in the UK? very few people are happy about leaving the EU, but have no choice because it was democratically decided upon.
Whether individuals suffer or not has nothing to do with anything. You can not single out areas that voted for MCP and feel sorry for them, democracy does not work that way.
As long as the opposition’s hands are clean regarding that part of the bill then their conscious is clear
Their hands can not be clean, they caused the problem. What were they walking out from? Opposition is in majority in parliament. They are capable of defeating any motion, so why walk out rather than force a vote.
Why do Malawians excuse bad behaviour.