Africa-Press – Eswatini. Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni and his Nhlambeni colleague Manzi Zwane were yesterday chucked out of the House of Assembly by Speaker Petros Mavimbela in what was a heated budget debate.
The heated debate was sparked by an over E35 million questionable budget allocation for land procurement and the never ending controversy surrounding the new Parliament building project.
Members of Parliament are divided over the proposed new Parliament building as well as an unjustified budget for procurement of land at Ezulwini by government.
MPs Myeni and Zwane dared Speaker Mavimbela to kick them out of the chambers as they refused to sit down after being ordered to do so.
Speaker Mavimbela obliged and gave the displeased MPs their marching orders.
A majority of the MPs were not happy with the Speaker who made numerous rulings on the same matter, accusing him that his actions were causing confusion in the House.
The heated debate emanated during the adoption of the report of the ministry of economic planning and development portfolio committee on the ministry’s annual performance report for the financial year 2021/2022 and budget estimates for the financial year 2022/2023.
In the committee’s recommendations, it was recommended that the E35 million budget allocation under project G636 should be put under Head 60, until the Minister of Economic Planning and Development Dr Tambo Gina tables a comprehensive report before the House justifying the expenditure.
In an earlier exchange, Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo enquired if the resolution made during the debate of the budget for the current year that Head 60 was not in the standing orders, thus funds should not be placed there was still in effect.
Attorney General Sifiso Mafelenkhosini Khumalo acknowledged that Head 60 was not in the standing orders but clarified that funds could be placed there if Parliament was not convinced with the justifications from Cabinet.
He, however, clarified that this was meant to meet each other halfway as the funds could be reallocated at a later date.
“I support Head 60 as this allows us to meet halfway.
The House should find it proper to utilise this and moving forward, it should be incorporated into the standing orders,” said Khumalo.
The Speaker initially ruled that at the moment, they should observe that Head 60 was there and should be utilised if need be.
While motivating for the passing of the budget, portfolio committee Chairperson Dvokodvweni MP Mduduzi Magagula stated that the ministry was not forthcoming with information as to what the land would be utilised for.
Kukhanyeni MP Vincent Sihlongonyane opposed the passing of the budget and requested the minister to unpack the project called procurement of government land and what it was for.
He was disappointed with the response from the ministry as it was only stated that the project aims at purchasing a piece of land at Ezulwini area that was strategically located.
The minister added that the land would be utilised for government projects in future and the projects would of course be brought to Parliament.
Corrupt
Sihlongonyane suspected corrupt practices as the minister was not clear on what the land would be used for and how big the land was to require such an amount.
He also raised a concern regarding the construction of the new Parliament building and said as legislators, they could not just pass budgets without knowing exactly what the funds would be utilised for.
“Also the designs are still to be presented to Parliament, so what is the money for? This is confusing, aseyime le budget until we are clear of what we are doing. We should wait for the designs,” he said.
He was seconded by Madlangempisi MP Sibusiso ‘Scorpion’ Nxumalo who also suggested that they should place the funds under Head 60.
A majority of the MPs moved that the budget for procuring the land should be placed under Head 60, which sparked the heated debate as some MPs felt strongly about the issue and said it was confusing.
They were also not happy with the Speaker who urged them to continue with the work at hand, which was interpreted as him denying them the opportunity to debate the budget.
Manzini North MP Macford Sibandze requested clarity from the Speaker if they were not allowed to debate reports once they had passed committee stage.
He also indicated that there was a need to strongly debate the Head 60 issue as it was confusing.
Speaker Mavimbela agreed with him and noted that the main cause of the confusion was the issue of the Head 60.
Issue
Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said they could not only consider the issue with one ministry as they were willing but unable to place budgets from other ministries under the same category.
“Let us come back to order, we will deal with Head 60 another time,” he said.
Gege MP Musa Kunene said the Speaker should not be influenced by what was being said by the MPs as he had already made a ruling.
“Do not feel pressured by MPs and contradict your ruling. You have already made a ruling on this matter,” he said.
This was also noted by MP Princess Phumelele who said the Speaker had a problem of making a ruling only to contradicted himself later on.
The Speaker had indicated that what he would say at that point would be final,l much to the disagreement of the MPs who remained standing despite his efforts to order them to sit down.
A number of the MPs remained standing while mumbling and demanding that the Speaker should allow them to talk.
Attempts to call the House to order proved futile as the MPs defied him and remained standing, prompting the Speaker to threaten to kick them out of the House.
The most vocal MPs were Myeni and Zwane who said they were ready to be kicked out of the chamber and remained standing while other MPs obeyed the ruling and took their seats.
Mumbling
The Speaker then ordered the MPs to leave the chamber to which they obliged while mumbling and stating that they did not care if he kicked them out as they were not happy that he was denying them a chance to speak.
After the MPs were kicked out the legislators passed the ministry’s budget with an amendment to place the E35 million in the government Consolidated Fund instead of under Head 60.
MP Myeni in a brief interview as he was marching out of the chambers said he considered the actions by the Speaker as muzzling them, yet they act on the interest of the electorate.
He said his walking out was a demonstration that he did not agree with the Speaker’s decision.
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