Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has asked Speaker Louis Chimango to reconvene parliament to discuss the 2007/08 budget.
But opposition political parties expressed ignorance of the development, saying State House press officer Chikumbutso Mtumodzi has only notified them about a meeting of the Business Committee of the House scheduled for Friday morning at Parliament secretariat in Lilongwe, according to report posted Friday on a website of the Nation newspaper of the country.
Parliament adjourned indefinitely following the defeat of a government motion that the house should discuss the budget and not Section 65. The opposition's motion was that both issues be dealt with concurrently.
Following the adjournment, there have been several demonstrations notably from a grouping calling itself the National Voices on the budget. The group came up with an eight-point program, among them arresting MPs if they do not pass the budget.
Some concerned citizens also started a night and day vigil at the National Assembly secretariat in Lilongwe to lobby MPs to discuss the budget.
A political deadlock in the country's 193-member opposition strong parliament is threatening adoption of the 2007/08 government budget pegged at about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars.
The standoff between opposition and the government in the country's parliament has come about following the June 15 Supreme Court of Appeal ruling on Section 65 of the country's constitution.
The section states that legislators who quit their parties which sponsored them into parliament and joined other parties and also represented in the house should be deemed to have crossed the floor and therefore lose their seats.
The court ruling dealt a painful blow to President Bingu Wa Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whose majority members in parliament numbered over 70 defected from other parties, especially the former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF).
Chaos erupted in the house last month when the opposition demanded that no debate on the budget should take place until the speaker ruled on the fate of legislators who were deemed to have crossed the floor by resigning from their political parties to join others.
The development forced Speaker Louis Chimango to suspend the budget sitting of the house indefinitely.
Source: Xinhua
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