MPs against banning handouts

Nov 28, 2017 Politics 40
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Lazarus Chakwera

Members of Parliament (MPs) have opposed banning handouts saying giving money and items to the poor is part of Malawi’s culture.

Banning handouts is part of the Political Parties Bill.

Uladi Mussa
Mussa: Malawi is still poor and we give the poor to ease their pain.

If passed, the bill which was referred to legal affairs committee during the last meeting will restrain Members of Parliament from giving handouts to their supporters especially during campaign period.

There was debate on Monday as Members of Parliament discussed the importance of passing the Political Parties Bill

During the discussions, several MPs stood against the tabling of the bill by Legal Affairs Committee chairperson Maxwell Tcholera claiming the bill is unfair to politicians in the country and has the possibility of killing the country’s culture.

Speaking to the media, Member of Parliament for Salima South Uladi Mussa said the handouts should not be banned claiming it is a Malawian culture to give to the poor.

“I strongly support the Political Parties Bill because it is really bringing discipline in parties but what I am disagreeing with is about handouts.

“Malawi is still poor and we give the poor to ease their pain and for us to ban the handouts to me it’s against our culture, it’s against our tradition and it is against our responsibility and as Christians and Muslims we must assist those who are suffering anywhere. So this time we should not pass this bill,” said Mussa.

Reacting to the tabling of the bill, minister of labour, youth, sports and manpower development, Francis Kasaila said there is need for Legal Affairs Committee to clarify on the clause in the bill.

Kasaila said if Malawi is to ban handouts, it should be done during the whole entire five year term and not only during campaign period as stated in the clause.

However, commenting on the concerns, Legal Affairs Committee chairperson Maxwell Tcholera said that the disagreements amongst MPs were due to misunderstanding of the bill.

Tcholera further said that there is no reason of worrying claiming the clause has clearly stated that the handouts which are to be banned are those done to entice a voter.

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40 Comments

  6. Me yes, handouts should be banned because; 1, handouts makes people to vote for a wrong people. 2; handouts descourages people to work hard

  8. The first to stop getting handouts should be MW as a country then it will spread to individuals…..if government still rely on donors then as a nation we are doomed.Handouts is a crime

  9. Stop hand outs. One MP had to win a parliamentary seat just because he was boiling tea in a big drum for people to drink. People were fooled now this MP is sitting in parliament has not done anything in his constituency. Tea basi pano anthu kuzunzika. Second hand out encourages the rulling party to start stealing from government to finance their campain this end up in the next president saying when i got into this seat there was no money. STOP hand OUTS

  15. Giving out 200 kwachas to voters to vote for u is a mockery and stupid. Don’t u MPs take advantage of the poor voter to vote for you as you are as useless as a broken pot which cannot hold water. Let the voter vote for you for your MFUNDO ZACHITUKUKO! Wamva? They vote for you and steal money for development! At parliament you just watch others and you contribute nothing! All this after a handout of K200! Nonsense. Give me time, I will Deal with.

  17. ndi boozalimenelo, tinene kuti nthawiyonseyi amalephela kupanga chitukuko chifukwa cha handout? kodi ndalama za local development fund ndi ndalama za kampeni ndizofana? nankha salare ma alawanse ndithandizo lamabungwe ndizofana? ndi umunthu wake kupeleka olo ayi pajatu kupasa ndikufesa ndipo pali ena sapasa kudelakwawo kulibe chitukuko ena opasa komanso achitukuko musasogolere zoipa ndikananena zambiri komabe uziwe AM NOT CONFIRMED WITH THAT POINT

  21. Kodi aMalawi amangokhala osauka thawi ya Campaign basi?……I think you MPs your mentally ill …..stop those handouts….vote ndimumtima remember

  22. Culture of hand outs is killing Malawi and making many people to be very irresponsible, always sitting waiting for some hand outs. With hand outs, we can not elect good leaders, we will be voting for those thieves back into Govt to loot more.

  25. If they Criminalize handouts it will involve arresting many people e.g the shadow MPs and the poor who receive the handouts… now look at how many people are involved wen a party is gvng handouts… It will cost money, gvts’ money, to fully prosecute such an offence.. Secondly criminalizing of political acts should be strictly watched and more than not it should be avoided… Such crimes associated with political acts can easily be used by the incumbent to attack the opposition during campaigns.. We all know how politics work here in Africa.. Such a crime will make it easy to disqualify opponents to the incumbent leadership… I think the MPs are correct on this point

    1. People want devolpment not criminals/thieves whom misused the cdf and give naive some pocket man. Thats way mp dont serve their people when they are Parliament

  29. Everything in Malawi is in ambiguity state, reason behind capacity building is not well linked to its citizens, MPs knows well the consequences of passing this bill, alibe mfundo zokwanila pa nthawi ya campaign awo maboza basi,nawo a malawi kwawo nkudya zonyenyeka alandilazo,alibe nazo ntchito akathawila mtown MPs

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