Malawi parliament finally accepts Joyce Banda’s State of the Nation Address

At long last, Joyce Banda’s state of the nation address has been adopted, thanks to Atupele Muluzi, Lifred Nawena and John Tembo’s votes.

Malawi parliament has today accepted the State of the Nation Address, through a vote that saw 90 parliamentarians voting in favour of the motion, while 39 said no.

According to Speaker of parliament Henry Chimunthu Banda, 52 parliamentarians were absent, while 11 abstained from voting.

Though the government is in minority, President Banda’s speech received ‘yes’ votes from opposition legislators in the likes of United Democratic Front (UDF) leader Atupele Muluzi, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Zomba Central MP Yunus Mussa, and the outspoken Thyolo Thava MP Lifred Nawena.

Also voting yes was Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader John Tembo, who also doubles as leader of opposition in parliament.

Notable faces that were not in parliament at the time of voting were DPP interim leader Peter Mutharika and Information and Civic education Minister Moses Kunkuyu

Parliament was forced to go into ‘division’, after opposition legislators blocked an outright adoption of the address which they described as empty.