Malawi parliament expected to meet amid budget row

Malawi's parliament is expected to reconvene next week, its speaker said on Friday, but it is still not clear whether a damaging political stalemate over the budget can be broken.

The opposition coalition of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) have refused to pass a $1.2 billion budget until a dispute over the poaching of its members by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was resolved.

The row has limited the government to a skeleton budget, seen police raid the house of a judge after he ruled against the president in the dispute, and angered Malawians in need of essential services.

Parliament speaker Louis Chimango told Reuters that "everyone would like to discuss the budget" when parliament reconvenes on Monday and a decision would be taken late on Friday in a meeting of the assembly's business committee.

The budget debate, which should have been concluded by June 30, was indefinitely suspended last month, threatening to cut off essential services to Malawi's 12 million people.

One of the poorest nations in the world, Malawi in southern Africa relies on aid from industrialised nations and international agencies.

The UDF's leader in parliament, George Nga Ntafu, said the party has agreed to attend parliament when it meets on Monday but declined to comment further until the parliamentary committee sets the agenda.

The government leader in the house, Henry Chimunthu Banda, aappeared optimistic that the budget would be debated on Monday.

"We have agreed to meet but we are yet to chart the way forward on the budget. Everyone seems to be in agreement that the budget should be discussed next week," he said.

Donors have praised President Bingu wa Mutharika for improving the country's financial health and offered it billions in debt relief.

But the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Malawi has said political wrangling over the budget was hurting the poor, many of whom live on less than $1 a day.