Continued impasse in parliament dominates Malawi press

Blantyre, Malawi - Stories from the Malawi Parliament, where the opposition has insisted it will not discuss and pass the 2008/09 national budget unless and untill all MPs that quit opposition parties to join President Bingu wa Mutharika's newly-founded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) returned, dominated the local press this week.

This followed Malawi's unique state of running without an approved national budget well over a month into the 2008/09 financial year, which normally begings on 1 July.

As expected, the Malawi media was awash with stories from parliament, albeit all of them not complimentary.

"MCP, MPP Against Bingu's Deadline" was the headline in The Daily Times, where opposition Malawi Congress party (MCP) and Maravi People's Party (MPP) scoffed at President Mutharika's decree that the current sitting of Parliament should run for only 10 days.

As if that was not enough a bad start for the controversial sitting of parliament, The Nation carried the headline "Gondwe Rejects 4 Months Funding" that quoted Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe as rejecting opposition parties' demands that government should be allowed a budget of four months only before the whole budget was passed.

"House Adjourns Early" was the headline in The Daily Times on the same story.

The opposition later softened up on the budget, with The Nation coming up with the headline "Opposition Agrees To Pass The Budget".

But things came to a head later in the week when the opposition found another reason to make government dance for the budget to pass.

"House Votes To Remove Katopola" and "Parliament Agrees On Katopola Ouster" were headlines in The Nation and The Daily Times respectively, with both reporting on opposition demands to have Clerk of Parliament Matilda Katopola to be sacked before the budget is discussed and passed.

Katopola, the first female Clerk of Parliament, drew the opposition-dominated Parliament's ire by irregularly awarding herself a contract to photocopy materials for an international symposium the Malawi Parliament was hosting.

"Opposition Wants Katopola Out Because Of Her Strictness" was the headline in The Guardian, quoting ruling DPP Secretary General Heatherwick Ntaba as saying the Clerk of Parliament's financial impropriety was just a scapegoat by the opposition.

The real reason for her woes, the paper quoted Ntaba as saying, was her refusal to allow MPs who have unsorted loans and her demands that MPs travel Ecomomy Class and not Business Class on international assignments.

Still in parliament, the sole legislator for the opposition Alliance for Democracy Loveness Gondwe stirred controversy when she alleged that the messy 2007 Malawi School Certificate of Education Examinations was botched because a contract to print the examination papers was granted to The Guardian newspapers that is run by President Mutharika's daughter, Duwa.

"Loveness Draws Fire In Parliament" read the headline in The Nation, where Gondwe was quoted as alleging that senior officials in government bulldozed the Malawi National examinations board (MANEB) to award the lucrative contract to print the examination papers to The Guardian, which lacked the requisite experience to handle such a sensitive assignment.

"State House Dismisses Loveness Gondwe" came the rebutall in The Guardian, quoting State House Press Officer Chikumbutso Mtumodzi as trashing Gondwe's allegations, saying in fact The Guardian's printing press was not yet planted when the examinations were being printed and that till date, the printing press was yet to handle any commercial job, including printing The Guardian newspaper itself.

The budget impasse is also set to set the media agenda next week, as Malawi News reported that "Budget Fight Not Yet Over," quoting opposition figures as threatening that they will make government dance during the committee stage of the budget session.