By Isaac Salima:
Members of Parliament (MPs) have been faulted for defying the august House’s Standing Orders that guide the issue of absenteeism of lawmakers.
This week, absenteeism has marred deliberations in the House, including a case when the majority of lawmakers were absent from a meeting without giving reasons.
For instance, on Tuesday, when the House resumed sitting after breaking for cluster committee business, a rollcall indicated that 105 members were absent and that only 84 were present.
However, according to Standing Order 205(4), party whips are supposed to inform the Speaker of Parliament about names and the number of MPs who would not be in a position to attend to parliamentary deliberations.
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“A party whip shall ensure that the Speaker is informed of any absence before the start of a sitting,” the Standing Order reads.
But The Daily Times has observed that the Speaker has, in most cases, been equally in the dark on the abscondments.
For instance, on Tuesday, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Aisha Adams called for a rollcall when she noticed that most seats were empty.
This was also the case on Wednesday, when Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara also lamented the issue of absenteeism.
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Government Chief Whip Jacob Hara also expressed worry that the number of legislators, including Cabinet ministers, was below 40 percent.
Under normal circumstances, and as prescribed through Standing Orders, the Speaker, Hara, was supposed to know or be informed about reasons behind the MPs’ absence.
And, speaking in ‘Kulinji?’ program on Times Radio, political commentator George Chaima expressed concern that legislators are not doing what is expected of them.
“Their role is to serve people from their constituencies. Now it [absenteeism] means that there are some MPs who do not have the welfare of people they serve at heart. Most of them are just there to make a fortune. This is painful, considering that these people are using taxpayers’ money,” Chaima said.
Human Rights Defenders Coalition Vice Chairperson Michael Kaiyatsa concurred with Chaima, urging legislators to always serve the public interest.
“These people were sent to the House to represent the interests of Malawians.
“However, what they are doing is the opposite. We need to evoke the laws so that those who are not present in the House, without giving proper reasons, should have their allowances forfeited,” Kaiyatsa said.
Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye said, in a written response, that the leadership of the House is working on how best to address the issue of attendance.
“You may recall that [the] Office of the Speaker has commented on attendance in the House by citing the requirements of Standing Order 41 (1), which says that: “A member may be granted leave of absence from the Assembly upon submitting a request to the Speaker through their party whips stating the reason for leave and the period of absence: provided that, where the member does not have an official whip, as in the case of the independent member, he/she may submit such a request to the Speaker,” Mwenye wrote.
He further said that the rollcalls are done in the chamber as one way of reminding members about this provision and also as a way of enforcing it.
“Information gathered through such rollcalls is cross-checked with the leave requests received by the office of the Speaker. Appropriate sanctions, as stipulated in Standing Order 41(3), are taken for those that do not comply with the cited Standing Order,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Speaker threatened that absentees would not be getting their allowances.
However, unconfirmed reports indicate that the MPs get their allowances in advance, making the money recovery process difficult.
