CPA NEWS
Malawi Parliamentarians visit Scottish and United Kingdom Parliaments for programme on Strengthening Committee Scrutiny A group of Parliamentarians from Malawi undertook a programme on Strengthening Committee Scrutiny from 3 to 5 March 2020. The programme focused on the role of Parliamentary Committees and enhancing legislative scrutiny through developing the technical skills of Committee Members and officials. The Malawi delegation was led by Hon. George Zulu MP, Member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and included Hon. Horace Chipuwa MP, Chair of the Local Authorities and Rural Development Committee; Hon. Gladys Ganda MP, Vice-Chairperson for the Defense and Security Committee; and Hon. Ulemu Chilapondwa MP, Vice-Chairperson of the Agriculture Committee. Together, the delegation represented ten of Malawi’s Parliamentary Committees. The programme was organised by the CPA UK Branch in partnership with the CPA Scotland Branch with funding from the Commonwealth Partnership for Democracy (CP4D). The programme included a day of meetings and discussions with MPs and Clerks as well as observing Committee and chamber proceedings in the UK Houses of Parliament; followed by a day at the CP4D Inclusive Politics Seminar; followed by a visit to the Scottish Parliament to observe the First Minister’s Questions along with meetings with several officials. Delegates joined the Speaker of Malawi, Rt Hon. Catherine Gotani Hara, MP and Rt Hon. Ken Macintosh, MSP, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament for a working lunch.
During the programme at the UK Parliament, the Malawi delegation met with: Baroness Barker, who highlight the tools for parliamentary scrutiny in the UK Parliament; UK Public Accounts Committee Members, Nigel Mills, MP and Chris Evans, MP explained how the PAC differed from other UK Select Committees in that it did not scrutinise policy, but rather how well government implements policy and if value for money was achieved; Neil Parish, MP, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and Ian Bradshaw, the Clerk of the Committee spoke about how to conduct effective inquiries; Rt. Hon Philip Dunne, MP, Chair of the Environment Audit Committee and Lloyd Owen, Clerk of the Committee spoke about the challenges for Committees on implementation and the measures that Committees can take including leveraging the media. The delegates’ visit to the Scottish Parliament highlighted the strong historic ties between the CPA Malawi and CPA Scotland Branches. Both Parliaments are unicameral and so delegates were able to observe how a unicameral Parliament operates in the UK context and how Committee work differed, offering a relevant comparison to their own Legislature.
102 | The Parliamentarian | 2020: Issue Two | 100 years of publishing 1920-2020
