After weeks of political bickering, Malawi's members of parliament (MPs) have started deliberating on the 2007/08 national budget, but commentators warn that any further delays could affect donor confidence.

The impact of the national budget's postponement is already being felt in sectors such as agriculture, education and health, according to economic analyst Mabvuto Bamusi, who is also the National Coordinator of the Human Rights Consultative Committee, a network of non-governmental organisations.

"Government needs a legal provision to spend, and without one there can be no meaningful development: development programmes are postponed, and no donor can release any funds to support the budget until the budget is passed into law," said Bamusi.

He urged legislators to bury the hatchet and work for the common good of the poor masses by prioritising the budget debate.

The budget vote was suspended on 24 July after opposition parties - the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), who hold the majority of seats in parliament - refused to debate the budget until a standoff over the defection of their members to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), led by President Bingu wa Mutharika, had been resolved. The government is being funded from a monthly skeleton budget.

The DPP had welcomed 60 defectors into its fold, bringing its tally of members in parliament to 80, but in June Malawi's Supreme Court granted powers to the Speaker of Parliament to expel defecting lawmakers, a decision that would affect the strength of the ruling party.

Donor confidence

Charles Kumbatira, executive director of the Malawi Economic Justice Network, a coalition of more than 100 civil society organisations, said the country risked losing donor confidence and support if the political standoff was not resolved in time.

"Our leaders have allowed political considerations to override economic justice for Malawians; we are in a situation where the common citizen of this country has been taken to ransom on a political matter," he said.

The coalition warned that investments would not be forthcoming in a country that was not politically stable. The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry has expressed fear that the delay in passing the budget would have a negative impact on the economy.

The Catholic bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) warned in a statement that the recent calls for by-elections and the impeachment of the president would shift government's attention from the development agenda to political matters, at the expense of the poor.

"Should we all lose the gains from debt cancellation by financing the impeachment processes or by-elections, at the expense of pro-poor expenditure areas like education, health, food security and mitigation of HIV and AIDS?" said bishops.

A pro-Mutharika group called National Voices on the Budget threatened "to deal with" opposition legislators for frustrating government business in parliament. The organisation solicited signatures from people across the country to petition parliament to pass the budget.

"We don't want to see Malawi going into the drain. It is unfortunate that our politicians have not lived up to people's expectations, and we are saying that we have had enough," said Ben Phiri, national coordinator of the group.

John Tembo, leader of the opposition in parliament and president of the MCP, said the Speaker should be allowed to declare vacant the seats of legislators who defected from their parties.

He said it was a constitutional requirement that MPs who crossed the floor should seek a fresh mandate from constituents via the ballot box. "It would take the Speaker less than 10 minutes to read out the names of defectors, and immediately the budget would be passed," Tembo maintained.

Last week, Mutharika threatened to shut down parliament if the legislators did not prioritise debate on the budget.