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PREMIER WANTS MP JOHANE DEALT WITH BEFORE THEY RETURN

24/11/2017 05:12:00 BY SIBONGILE SUKATI

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LOBAMBA – When people in power fight among themselves it is the powerless that suffer.

This is the exact position that the ordinary Swazis find themselves in, as the battle between Members of Parliament (MPs) and Cabinet intensifies. Cabinet has allegedly taken a stand that it will not be returning to the House of Assembly until the motion kicking them out of the House, or the resolution that was taken by the MPs that Cabinet pays the elderly, is reversed.

This is according to the Speaker, Themba Msibi, who relayed his alleged telephone conversation with the Prime Minister (PM), Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini yesterday. Once again, not a single member of the Executive arm of government made their way into the House of Assembly yesterday.

The Speaker told the MPs that he had tried to call the PM on Wednesday evening to inform him that the House had resolved that Cabinet should come back to Parliament so that they could work on other national issues, and further address the matter of the non-payment of the elderly. Msibi said he had eventually failed to get the PM, but communicated with the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Paul Dlamini.

Msibi said however, yesterday morning he finally got hold of the PM and told him and his team that they were wanted in the House. “Kutaba lukhuni Speaker kutsi sibuye ngoba sacoshwa,” was allegedly the PM’s response according to Msibi.

This can be translated to mean that Dlamini said it would be difficult for Cabinet to return to the House as they were chucked out. Msibi said he insisted to the PM that the House had simply sent them on an assignment and therefore, they could return.

However, the PM allegedly remained adamant that in that case the MPs should withdraw the motion or the resolution and that the issue should never be debated in the House, at least this year. The pm further told the Speaker that they would also not attend House business until something was done to Mbabane West MP Johane Shongwe, who had torn a government document in the chamber.