Malawi suspends parliament as feud stalls budget

Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika has suspended parliament until opposition legislators give him guarantees that they will adopt the 2008/09 budget, stalled over a political feud.

The opposition alliance of United Democratic Front (UDF) and Malawi Congress Party say that under the constitution, wa Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party should lose 60 legislators they accuse him of poaching when he quit the UDF.

They insist that the impasse should be resolved before the first passage of the budget.

"The opposition is trying to take over government through the backdoor, this cannot be allowed and therefore I maintain my decision that the meeting of parliament will be adjourned on Friday, June 20," wa Mutharika said in a live radio broadcast on Thursday night.

"I have taken a decision in order to save the nation from destruction because the opposition does not care about the suffering of the people, they do not want poverty and hunger to end in this country," he added.

The Malawi Congress Party said wa Mutharika has no powers under the law to suspend parliament.

The political crisis delayed passage of the budget last year until pressure from the international community and civil society forced opposition legislators to back down.

The 2008/09 budget, presented in parliament by the finance minister late last month, proposes increasing public service salaries by 20 percent, doubling spending on a fertilizer and seed subsidy programme and introducing tax measures to encourage local cigarette manufacturing.

Economic watchdog Malawi Economic Justice Network said wa Mutharika's move would create a crisis that could undermine donor confidence in the impoverished southern African state.

"What this decision means is that government will not be in a position to spend public funds because it will be unconstitutional to do that and this can disappoint donors who may lose confidence," said the group's executive director Andrew Kumbatira.

The Council for Non Governmental Organisations (Congoma), a group of over 100 non-governmental organisations in Malawi, said the president's actions undermined efforts by the clergy to resolve the political stand-off.

Wa Mutharika, lauded for economic achievements in the last three years, has clashed with the opposition since he quit the UDF, which sponsored his candidature in 2004 elections.