Malawi parliament expels MPs

Mr Mpinganjira says that the expulsion is 'illegal'

Malawi's parliamentary speaker has expelled a high profile former government minister and seven other former members of the governing party for setting up an opposition party.

Former education minister Brown Mpinganjira announced on Sunday the formation of his new group, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to thousands of supporters.

The constitution guarantees every Malawian the freedom to associate whichever way they want Brown Mpinganjira

But the parliamentary speaker, David Katsonga, said he and three other MPs were elected as members of the governing party and so could not belong to the NDA and remain in parliament.

Mr Mpinganjira hails from the south of the country - a ruling party stronghold - and is expected to perform strongly there in next year's elections.

Illegal dismissal

Mr Katsonga has also expelled four more MPs from the Alliance for Democracy party for violating the constitution by leaving the opposition and forming the breakaway Genuine Alliance for Democracy (GAFORD).

The MPs have contravened article 65 of the constitution which bars members of parliament from changing their political affiliation, Mr Katsonga said.

Mr Mpinganjira, a former close aide of President Bakili Muluzi, told the BBC's Network Africa programme that he thought the government felt threatened because the NDA was, as he put it, growing like a bush fire and that it was "illegal for the speaker to dismiss" them from the parliament.

"The section 65 which they are using now is one which is being challenged by everybody in this country.

"The constitution guarantees every Malawian the freedom to associate whichever way they want," he said.

He accused UDF of double standards and of "devising means and ways of destroying the NDA", before the third multi-party elections expected in May 2004.

"Not allowed"

Mr Katsonga told AFP that the four had originally belonged to President Muluzi's ruling party in the country's 1999 general elections.

Mr Mpinganjira accuses President Muluzi's ruling party of trying to destroy the NDA

"They cannot be allowed to belong to the NDA and still be in parliament," Katsonga said.

The other three NDA members sacked from the parliament with Mr Mpinganjira were named as the chairman James Makhumula and senior officials Grasham Naura and Peter Chupa.

President Muluzi is not standing for a third term and has endorsed his economic planning minister Bingu wa Mutharika - who also hails from the same area as Mr Mpinganjira.