Malawi's Parliament Passes Budget After Parties Sign Agreement

Malawi's parliament passed the 229 billion Malawi kwacha ($1.6 billion) 2008-2009 national budget after the government and opposition parties resolved a dispute over lawmakers who switched parties in violation of the constitution.

The opposition parties say President Wa Mutharika's ruling Democratic Progressive Party holds 64 illegal seats in parliament after lawmakers changed allegiances to join his DPP. Wa Mutharika won Malawi's presidency on a UDF ticket before quitting the party to form his own.

The parties demanded that before the adoption of the budget, the Speaker should invoke Section 65 of the constitution, which stops lawmakers from joining other parties represented in parliament. Technically, this could lead to the collapse of the government, because all but six lawmakers were poached from opposition parties. The six won by-lections on the DPP ticket.

Parliament passed the budget after an agreement was reached that the opposition will drop all injunctions related to Section 65 by Sept. 14 and that parliament should reconvene on Sept. 29 for the Speaker to rule on the fate of the 64 lawmakers. The agreement was concluded in the absence of Wa Mutharika who returns from a trip to Norway this weekend.

Political wrangling between the government and opposition parties has delayed the approval of the budget for two months. The United Democratic Front, the Alliance for Democracy and the Malawi Congress Party have delayed passing the budget every year since 2004.

Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told reporters in the capital, Lilongwe, yesterday that he was happy that agreement had been reached.

``I know the whole nation is happy too that we have the budget,'' Gondwe said. ``It's now time for us to start delivering the programs we promised.'' Since the deadline for approval of the budget passed on June 30, Gondwe has used the southern African country's ``Consolidated Fund'' to make payments for the new fiscal year, which began on July 1.