Parliament Thursday gave Zomba Ntonya lawmaker Ned Poya the go-ahead to bring a Private Member’s Bill which seeks to authorise government to start providing funds to all political parties represented in the august House.
Currently, Section 40 (2) of the Constitution makes provision for funding to political parties which amassed more than one tenth of the national vote and which are represented in Parliament.
The bill, according to Poya, would also provide a legal framework regulating the administration of political party funding and other matters incidental.
The bill also seeks to bring about accountability on how the funds should be disbursed and accounted for.
Currently, according to Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe, only two major parties of MCP and DPP are the ones which tap from the funding, with the biggest party getting K80 million and the other getting K70 million per annum.
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“It’s only fair that those that are in the House get a little something because administering a party is not cheap. Looking at all the expenses that go with administering a party, you talk of the salaries, rentals and anything else, we need to promote democracy,” Gwengwe said.
He also expressed concern over the low funding that goes to the Centre for Multiparty Democracy which, he said, receives only K1.2 million per annum out of the K150 million that goes towards political party funding.
Commenting on behalf of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), Dowa East lawmaker Richard Chimwendo Banda said it is the wish of President Lazarus Chakwera that all parties represented in Parliament get funding from government on proportional basis.
He was quick to note that the motion does not necessarily change the amount of money going to Parliament for political parties.
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“His Excellency’s wish, and this government’s wish, is that all political parties, as long as they have members of Parliament, should be able to get something but [that is] proportional to their members.
“We don’t want to see a party saying we want to do something like the ‘mighty’ MCP. The word ‘mighty’ does not just come. It comes with numbers. But for the smaller parties to reach a point where they can be called ‘mighty’, they need to be strengthened,” Chimwendo Banda said.
UDF president Lilian Patel said the motion was crucial in ensuring that political parties in Parliament get funds.
“I don’t think anybody here will stand and oppose this because, one day, you will reduce yourselves to 10 as we are. Before 2004, we had 90-something MPs. Slowly, slowly we have come to 10,” Patel said.
Thyolo Central lawmaker Ben Malunga Phiri said the motion was crucial in curbing corruption and underscored the importance of also strengthening the Political Parties Act that deals with issues of handouts.
