By Pemphero Malimba:
Parliament on Thursday gave Leader of the Opposition George Chaponda 48 hours to furnish it with evidence on his allegations that the National Registration Bureau (NRB) is printing new national identity (ID) cards at a warehouse belonging to the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) at Kanengo in Lilongwe.
Chaponda raised the issue in Parliament on Wednesday after opposition members of Parliament (MPs) stormed a National Food Reserve Agency room that is serving as an NRB warehouse.
Chitipa South Parliamentarian Werani Chilenga asked the house to allow Chaponda to furnish parliamentarians with evidence to support his allegations, in accordance with Standing Order 102 sub rule 2.
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According to Chilenga, the order states that lawmakers need to be accurate when bringing an issue to the House.
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“According to that statement (made by Chaponda), he is supposed to prove it because it has been proven otherwise— [to the effect] that the people who were working there [at Kanengo NRB warehouse] were doing their normal duties.
“So, if he has information different from that, he should act according to Standing Order 102 sub rule 2 to prove his allegations,” he said.
Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda supported Chilenga’s call.
First Deputy Speaker Madalitso Kazombo called for a vote to be made to allow members of Parliament (MPs) to decide on whether Chaponda should furnish the House with the evidence. After voting, Kazombo communicated that 43 MPs had voted in favour of the move to allow Chaponda to furnish the House with the evidence while 37 MPs voted against it.
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Kazombo, therefore, said Chaponda had 48 hours to furnish the House with the evidence. Chaponda told The Daily Times that he was ready to provide the evidence.
“I will provide (the evidence) but that is irregular and is not in line with Standing Order 13 because they [government side] have not replied to my question,” he said.
He said he had evidence, including videos, to prove the allegations.
“We have got evidence. We had gone there; we were there. People saw the videos and all those things, which were in the public domain. You saw all those things. We shall see in the course of today,” Chaponda said.
In an interview after the deliberations, Chilenga said he would continue questioning other MPs whenever there is a hot issue in the House.
“If things go wrong, they [MPs] have to be questioned. If someone brings wrong information [to Parliament], our Standing Orders have to be applied to the letter; no mercy about it,” he said.
Addressing the concerns of opposition political party representatives who stormed the NRB warehouse at Kanengo NFRA campus, NRB Principal Secretary Mphatso Sambo said there were no suspicious activities taking place at the warehouse.
Sambo indicated that the warehouse was only used as a centre for sorting national IDs and that no process of printing new IDs was taking place.
