For years, the red light has been flashing inside Malawi’s National Assembly. The warning was issued in committee rooms, in the Speaker’s chambers, and in the press.
It was repeated by civil society, by voters in constituencies, and by the media. Yet the problem has not only persisted. It has deepened.
The fight against absenteeism in Parliament appears to be a losing battle. Speaker of the National Assembly Sameer Suleman has once again issued a fresh warning to Members of Parliament who skip committee and plenary meetings.
This latest caution comes despite the fact that these same MPs continue to receive sitting allowances every time Parliament sits. The timing is telling.
The warning was issued towards the end of last year, and barely seven months later the same issue is back on the front page. That cycle tells the story of Malawi’s legislature: warnings are issued, headlines are made, and then nothing changes.
The image on the front page of The Daily Times on Thursday, July 9, 2026, captures the gravity.
A Speaker in full regalia, the symbol of authority and order, is paired with a banner headline that reads like an indictment: “STRING OF IGNORED WARNINGS.”
It is not a new scandal. It is an old wound that has been left to fester.
Absenteeism in Parliament is not a technical issue. It is a governance crisis.
When MPs fail to attend committee meetings, bills are delayed, oversight collapses, and public money is spent without scrutiny.
When MPs skip plenary, debates are hollow, quorum becomes a struggle, and the voice of the constituency goes silent.
Yet the allowances keep flowing, creating a perverse incentive where absence pays as much as presence. The public knows this.
Voters in Lilongwe, Blantyre, Mzuzu and in rural constituencies ask the same question: if we elected them to represent us, why are they not in the chamber? The answer, too often, is that there are no consequences.
Warnings without sanctions become background noise. This is not the first time Speaker Suleman has spoken out.
His predecessors made similar appeals. Civil society groups have published reports.
The media has named and shamed. Each time, Parliament promises reform.
Each time, the register at the end of the session tells a different story. The cost is more than reputational.
Malawi is at a critical moment, negotiating debt, managing development funds, and trying to restore public trust in institutions.
A legislature that cannot even keep its members in the room undermines all of that.
It tells donors, investors, and citizens that accountability begins and ends with a press statement. What makes this moment different is the fatigue.
The public is no longer shocked by absenteeism. They are angry that it has been normalized.
They see MPs who campaign on service delivery but cannot be present to debate the very laws that govern that service delivery. They see a system where responsibility is preached but never enforced.
Speaker Suleman’s renewed call is therefore both necessary and insufficient. Necessary, because leadership must keep saying what is right.
Insufficient, because words alone have not worked for years. If Parliament is serious, it must move beyond warnings.
It must publish attendance records in real time. It must link allowances directly to verified presence in both committees and plenary.
It must allow constituents to recall or sanction representatives who treat the House with contempt. Without that, the “string of ignored warnings” will simply become a longer string.
And each ignored warning further erodes the idea that Parliament belongs to the people. Malawi cannot afford a legislature that functions in absentia.
Democracy is not a part-time job. Until absence carries a cost, the warnings will keep coming.
And they will keep being ignored.
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