Malawi budget passed

Malawi Parliament on Thursday passed a 140.7 billion kwacha (1 billion U.S. dollars) 2006/07 budget, Nation Online of Malawi reported Friday.

Leader of opposition John Tembo said that "members of the opposition as well as the government have put the interest of the nation in the forefront. As responsible members of the House and representatives of the people, and their welfare, we want to ensure that the budget is passed so that government is able to continue with normal operations and delivery of services to the people."

Tembo, while commending the house especially the opposition for scrutinizing the budget, warned that next year the opposition would take the same path of scrutinizing the budget.

Malawi state prosecutors dropped corruption charges against former president Bakili Muluzi on Monday, saying the suspension of the country's top anti-corruption official left no-one to investigate the case.

Muluzi was held briefly for questioning on 28 last month by Anti-Corruption Bureau ACB) about allegations that he diverted 12 million US dollars in government funds into his own bank account.

In a surprise move, President Bingu wa Mutharika later on same day suspended ACB director Gustave Kaliwo.

The country's political analysts, however, have observed that Mutharika must have suspended Kaliwo for arresting Muluzi without consulting the president first and at a time when the government was struggling to have the 2006/07 budget passed in the opposition dominated parliament.

Last week Malawi was once again thrown into political turmoil following Mutharika's rebuff of legislators demands that their perks be increased as a condition for approving government's 2006/ 07 budget.

Mutharika's response comes in the wake of an impasse that has rocked the 192-member parliament as the majority opposition led by the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) have refused to pass government's 2006/07 budget until the president and the government meet their demands.

A legislator in Malawi earns about 2,000 U.S. dollars a month against the country's per capita income of 160 dollars per year.

The country's parliament was expected to pass a 986 million dollar government budget by June 30 as Malawi's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

The government is currently running on a 248 million dollar provisional budget which would run until September 30, 2006.

Source: Xinhua