Govt Takes Golden Stance In Committee Of Supply:

37 votes passed, Road Administration Fund vote Deferred 

The adage that 'Silence is Golden' has been proven to be game by government side in the National Assembly during the two days of government business on Committee Of Supply. 

To the surprise of the opposition, when the committee of supply entered first day on Thursday,the opposition members, mainly Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and Peoples Party (PP) were continuously rising to press for clarification through in depth elaborative explanation by the minister of finance Goodall Gondwe on why a particular extra allocation of funds towards the revised budget was arrived upon. 

Likewise, during the second day on Friday the opposition continued seeking for clarification from the minister, vote by vote, without any contribution from the government side. But it was quickly noted that the opposition's surprise which was verbally expressed in the house was a failure to read the bold sign written in the air that those in government had a better understanding of the budgetary process hence their applied stance on the golden silence.

For two sittings Thursday and Friday, the ongoing Committee of Supply has passed a total of 37 votes out of a total of 57 votes. 18 votes were passed on Thursday while 19 votes on Friday. 

However, the house has differed Road Fund Administration vote which has an allocation of revised K23.8 billion from approved provision of K25.87 billion.

Members differed the vote for a reason that there is a lot of work to be done in the road sector but the resources being made available "may not be adequate" particularly now that the ongoing rains have destroyed a lot of roads across the country. 

The Finance minister Goodall Gondwe said will review the vote and bring it on Monday.  But he said the reviewed vote will reflect capacity to full utilisation of the allocated amount within the next six months and not necessarily question of allocating resources .

Among the revised votes passed to stand part of the Revised Recurrent and Development Estimates on Thursday alone, includes K651.4 million for Ministry of Youth and Sports Development a revision from approved provision of K1.07 billion and K154. 2 billion to Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development a revision from approved provision of K140. 6 billion. On Friday the house passed K82.5 million a revision from approved provision of K115 Million for the Ministry of Disability and the Elderly Affairs, and K90. 8 billion a revision from K81.68 billion for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The Finance Minister is seeking the house to approve additional funds amounting to K32 billion. Meanwhile, the Committee of Supply which adjourned on Friday expects to resume  on Monday afternoon.

Leader of House in the National Assembly Hon. Francis Lazaro Kasaila has since expressed hope that the remaining votes will be passed on Monday as the Committee of Supply sits in the afternoon “I believe that come Monday we will complete the Committee of Supply”

Kasaila also praised cooperation and progress made so far during the committee of Supply “During the Committee of Supply we have seen that we have done quite well questions that were being asked were pertinent it indicates that people are concerned of projects in their communities”

Speaking of the upcoming week he said “We have a lot of bills that are going to come and we hope that we have cooperation in the house as well.”

(Munthu Wakuda Leo contributed part of the information in this story)