President Lazarus Chakwera is set to deliver the State of the Nation Address (Sona) today amid uncertainties on the Leader of Opposition position.
This follows Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s appointment of Mary Navicha to the position.
As lawmakers meet, the focus of attention will, therefore, be Chakwera, whose Sona will reflect the achievements and challenges that have faced his administration in this fiscal year.
He will then give Malawians his vision for the next fiscal year, considering that this is also the Budget Session of Parliament.
In another development, DPP Thursday chose its director of women and Thyolo Thava Member of Parliament Navicha as Leader of Opposition.
Navicha comes in after the party has struggled to have its vice president for the Southern Region George Chaponda to ascend to the position because of a court injunction.
Confirming the development, Parliament spokesperson Ian Mwenye said the party has sent a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, notifying her of the new appointment.
“Indeed, the party has written the Speaker notifying her of the appointment but what I can say is that Parliament is consulting on the matter,” Mwenye said.
Mwenye, however, refused to disclose the timeframe of their consultations, considering that Parliament convenes this morning.
“We are consulting on the matter and we haven’t given ourselves a timeframe,” he said.
Lawyer for the disputed Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa, Wapona Kita, said his client has not been served with any notice and that they are just reading the reports on social media.
“We haven’t been served with any official document. We are just reading this on the social media. So, to us, Nankhumwa is Leader of Opposition and we can’t comment on the new appointment until we see an official document,” Kita said.
As things stand, it is not known who will sit on the opposition seat as Parliament’s consultations have not been given any timeframe.
Sources at Parliament told us that chaos is expected in the august House.
