Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker for Chitipa South Constituency Werani Chilenga has described the opposition in Parliament as “too divided, disjointed, scattered and disoriented”.
Chilenga, a former minister in the DPP administration, was speaking when he contributed to the 2024-25 national budget presented by Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda a couple of weeks ago.
According to Chilenga, the current opposition in Parliament has created a situation where some opposition lawmakers are busy opposing other opposition legislators.
“If a country is going to war, that country cannot win that war if it is already engaged in a civil war. You first of all deal with the civil war within your country; then, you can go and attack another country.
“So, the civil war that we are in clearly shows that we cannot engage in another war,” Chilenga said.
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Commenting on the issue of the budget, Chilenga said the 2024-25 budget is 100 percent in tandem with the State of the Nation Address delivered by President Lazarus Chakwera when he opened the budget session.
According to Chilenga, the government should not be worried with those who are trying to punch holes in the budget as they are just doing so to keep their positions in their respective political parties.
However, Zomba Mtonya lawmaker Ned Poya expressed worry over the huge sums of money that have been committed towards the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP).
This year, the AIP has been allocated about K160 billion.
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Poya also pleaded with Chithyola Banda to consider allocating resources towards caregivers that are working in early childhood development centres.
Mzimba North lawmaker Yeremiah Chihana bemoaned what he described as “inequitable distribution of resources” in the budget.
