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Malawi celebrates independence anniversary amid political
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09:28, July 07, 2007 |
"We are ready to face the consequences of the court ruling on Section 65," said Mutharika who also praised the country''s first president Hastings Banda for building the nation between 1964 and 1994, and Bakili Muluzi for setting up Malawi''s democratic foundation.
The president, however, pleaded with the majority opposition legislators to first pass the government''s 2007/08 budget pegged at about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars before tackling the issue of crossing the floor.
"We should not deny Malawians the budget because we want some members to be thrown out of parliament first..Let us adopt the budget even next week and then we box each other over Section 65," he said.
Chimango was on Tuesday forced to suspend the budget sitting of the 193 member opposition dominated house for one week after deliberations turned chaotic as government and opposition differed on procedures.
Chaos erupted in the house when the opposition demanded that no debate should take place until the speaker ruled on the fate of legislators who are deemed to have crossed the floor by resigning from their political parties to join others.
The June 15 Supreme Court judgment was the climax in a two year long dispute between the president and the opposition parties, a situation that forced Mutharika to seek interpretation of the court regarding Section 65 of the country''s constitution, which is about crossing the floor of legislators in the national assembly.
Mutharika sought the court''s intervention, claiming that Section 65 of the constitution, which restricts defections of parliamentarians, must be scrapped off from the laws of Malawi since it contravenes other sections of the same constitution that grant people freedom of association and freedom to hold political opinion.
Source: Xinhua
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