First Deputy Speaker, Esther Mcheka Chilenje, Tuesday morning expressed concern over the speed at which Members of Parliament (MPs) were scrutinising allocations to government ministries, departments and agencies.
The process started on Monday afternoon, with the MPs passing 11 out of 12 votes they handled. But the MPs only passed two votes in three hours of morning sitting.
During scrutiny of K2.1 billion allocation to the Ministry of Sports and Culture, Chilenje reminded the MPs to consider the time they were spending on the vote.
“Honourable members, as the person chairing this process, I have to ensure that we are making progress. We have overstayed on this vote. Let’s move to another. Some of the issues you are raising can be answered in other related votes,” Chilenje said.
One MP asked Minister of Sports, Grace Chiumia, to explain measures put in place to complete works at Bingu National Stadium. Another raised the issue of funding to national football and netball teams.
But Dowa East MP, Richard Chimwendo Banda, said the MPs were supposed to thoroughly scrutinise the votes before passing them.
“We are here not just to rubberstamp what has been prepared. We would like to thoroughly scrutinise the votes before passing them,” Banda said.
But Chilenje said the MPs were not rubberstamping the budget. She said they were given enough time only that she had to control the proceedings so that the process ends within allocated time.
“The business committee of this House agreed that committee of supply should end on Thursday. We therefore have to know that there are other votes which need to be scrutinised. We cannot, therefore, be on just one vote for this long,” Chilenje said.
After an hour, the K2.1 billion allocation to the Ministry of Sports was passed. The next allocation, K199.7 billion to Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, took a longer duration than the Sport Ministry’s. The MPs discussed allocation for close to two hours.
In their contribution, the MPs raised a number of issues ranging from the country’s food situation to availability of water in their constituencies.
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