Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara on Tuesday adjourned the House abruptly due to a fire scare in the chamber.
The adjournment came after some members of parliament expressed concern over massive leakages, prompting workers in the Chamber to place buckets in the House to trap rainwater.
The fire scare adjournment happened in the afternoon as members were making contributions towards the 2022/2023 Budget Statement.
Speaker Gotani Hara
This was almost an hour after the members had returned from an early lunch break which was necessitated as a result of a power outage.
As deliberations were in progress, members noticed smoke coming from the roof of the chamber.
This caused panic as the members and others present in the house rushed out to save their dear lives.
Speaker of Parliament Gotani Hara, adjourned the house for 10 minutes to allow time for electricians to resolve the fault.
The fault could not be rectified within the stipulated period as power was later cut to enable the electricians to inspect the entire building.
When the legislators returned to the House, the Speaker adjourned it using virtual platforms.
During morning deliberations the Parliamentarians had to go for an early tea break also due to a power outage.
Leader of the House, Richard Chimwendo Banda, said it has been a day full of disturbances with little progress made.
He said there is hope that the House will get a full report on the incident on Wednesday.
“I hope we will get a full report on the cause of the suspected fire and the power outages.
Parliament administration should be able to solve the problem by tomorrow,” said Chimwendo.
Earlier, members of parliament expressed concern over massive leakages and other damages feared to have been caused by rains.
The concern comes as some lawmakers noticed that some parts of the House leak something that poses as a threat on their safety.
Alfred Jiya, lawmaker for Lilongwe City Centre Constituency said there is need to work on the condition of the House.
Gotani Hara said parliament would engage the executive arm of government to fix the problem, saying it was way beyond the National Assembly.
When the legislators returned to the House, the Speaker adjourned it using virtual platforms.