Malawi postpones budget session to prepare for El Niño
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Nyasa Times
The Malawian government has postponed the parliamentary session on the mid-year budget review, initially scheduled for 9 November to 11 December 2026, to mobilise resources against the threat of El Niño. MCP youth leader Moses Malondera accuses President Peter Mutharika of misleading the public, Nyasa Times reports.
Malawi has postponed the parliamentary session devoted to the mid-year budget review, initially scheduled for 9 November to 11 December 2026. President Peter Mutharika asked for public resources to be redirected towards preparing the response to the El Niño weather threat, National Assembly Speaker Sameer Suleman announced in a statement published on 28 October and reported by Nyasa Times.
The government wants to fund measures to limit El Niño’s possible effects on food security, livelihoods and the economy. No new timetable has been announced for the session, leading Moses Malondera, youth director of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), to accuse the president of misleading the public and presenting a cancellation as a mere postponement.
Moses Malondera believes the delay risks reducing parliamentary oversight of public spending, particularly expenditure incurred in the name of the response to El Niño. He says MPs may not resume their budget work until consideration of the 2027-2028 national budget, by which time much of the current financial year’s spending would already have taken place.
The postponement follows the decision announced on 27 October to prioritise funding for the response to El Niño and fuel, followed by Peter Mutharika’s order on 28 October to keep Parliament adjourned until the budget session, as recalled in Parliament postponed to fund the response to El Niño and Mutharika’s order on the budget session.
