{"id":41429,"date":"2023-02-23T22:30:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T22:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona"},"modified":"2023-02-24T09:13:36","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T09:13:36","slug":"day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona","title":{"rendered":"Day of sackcloths, placards, disruptions during Sona"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>There was drama in Parliament Friday when President Lazarus Chakwera was delivering his State of the Nation Address (Sona). Chakwera\u2019s address was interrupted twice prompting the Speaker to intervene.<\/p>\n

Some Members of Parliament from the opposition bench were putting on sack clothes as a message to the President that many Malawians are suffering, according to Leader of Opposition, Kondwani Nankhumwa.<\/p>\n

The strange attire also brought tension before the President entered the House as Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda stood on a point of order seeking the Speaker\u2019s intervention on whether it was proper for the MPs to dress in such a manner.<\/p>\n

In her ruling Speaker Catherine Gotani Hara said: \u201cOfficial dressing for male members of Parliament shall be a suit which consists of a pair of long trousers, a neck tie and a jacket and for female members has to be a formal dress, skirt, long sleeved dress. The standing orders are clear that the suit has to be decent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make sure that we are dressed formally. If you remember Honourable Lucius Banda was sent out of this House for wearing a red suit. Let\u2019s not set a bad precedent Honourable members. So if you are wearing something that is not recognised as decent I request you to please go out and dress appropriately,\u201d she ruled.<\/p>\n

But the opposition protested the Speaker\u2019s explanation and did not allow those dressed in such attire to leave the chamber. It took deputy leader of the House Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda to end the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadam Speaker today is a very important day. The whole nation is looking forward to hearing the State of the Nation Address and I think it will be very important that we focus on the main business of today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Legal Affairs Committee that can later look into the matter and define what is proper dressing. I submit Honourable Speaker,\u201d said Chiponda. The Speaker went by Chiponda\u2019s advice.<\/p>\n

But this was not the end for the members of the opposition as immediately after the President entered the chamber, the MPs took out placards with different messages which they displayed for Chakwera to see.<\/p>\n

Some of the messages read, \u2018Hire the youth not retirees\u2019, \u2018Create jobs not thieving empire\u2019, \u2018Where is the President, Malawi has no leadership\u2019, \u2018Malawi lost under Chakwera,\u2019 \u2018Malawi is a crime scene\u2019, \u2018We are tied of your words Chakwera, we need action\u2019, \u2018 No drugs in hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MPs displayed the placards until Chakwera got to his seat. According to Nankhumwa, the messages on the placards were cries of Malawians. \u201cThey sent us with a message to the President and we have passed that message through the sack cloth dressing and the placards displayed,\u201d Nankhumwa said.<\/p>\n

When the President was deep in his address, Nankhumwa interjected him when he brought on the floor a complaint that the opposition side was not served with bottled water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surprised we haven\u2019t been given water this side,\u201d wondered Nankhumwa.<\/p>\n

Though saying that a point of order is never allowed when the President is speaking, the Speaker allowed Nankhumwa to speak and in her ruling to the point of order, she said the issue would be addressed.<\/p>\n

As the house was glued to the address, another disturbance came up. There was a verbal war between some legislators from the opposition and some people standing in the gallery.<\/p>\n

The MPs alleged that the people, who were standing in the press gallery, were taking their pictures and issuing threats to them. \u201cThey were taking pictures of the Members of Parliament whom they said would be attacked when they step out of the House,\u201d Nankhumwa said.<\/p>\n

But the noise that disrupted Chakwera for the second time, angered the Speaker who later evoked standing order 105 to send one of the Members, Naomi Kilekwa of Mulanje South East out of the House.<\/p>\n

However, Kilekwa refused to leave the House. She said, \u201cI won\u2019t leave, they will attack me outside. Ah mufuna akandimenye panjapo.\u201d After efforts to make her leave the House proved futile, the Speaker then threatened unspecified punishment on her to be delivered on Monday.<\/p>\n

At the end of the Sona, the opposition MPs did not go out to be with the President during a photo session. \u201cWe did not go to take a photo with the President because we were being threatened. This is strange. It has never happened anyamata achipani exchanging words with Honourable members right here in the House.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are back to days of terror,\u201d said one of the members, Kennedy Kachingwe for Blantyre Rural South West during a press briefing. At the beginning of his Speech, Chakwera said he had been tipped about a hostile environment during his address.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. There was drama in Parliament Friday when President Lazarus Chakwera was delivering his State of the Nation Address (Sona). Chakwera\u2019s address was interrupted twice prompting the Speaker to intervene. Some Members of Parliament from the opposition bench were putting on sack clothes as a message to the President that many Malawians are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":41428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,410],"tags":[233,371,306,234,163,5890],"class_list":["post-41429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-lazarus-chakwera","tag-malawi","tag-parliament","tag-sona"],"yoast_head":"\nDay of sackcloths, placards, disruptions during Sona - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There was drama in Parliament Friday when President Lazarus Chakwera was delivering his State of the Nation Address (Son ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Day of sackcloths, placards, disruptions during Sona\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There was drama in Parliament Friday when President Lazarus Chakwera was delivering his State of the Nation Address (Son ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-23T22:30:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-24T09:13:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677178874.14.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1715\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"963\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Day of sackcloths, placards, disruptions during Sona\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-23T22:30:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-24T09:13:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona\"},\"wordCount\":812,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677178874.14.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Lazarus Chakwera\",\"Malawi\",\"Parliament\",\"Sona\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/day-of-sackcloths-placards-disruptions-during-sona\",\"name\":\"Day of sackcloths, placards, disruptions during Sona - 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