SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT COLLAPSES DURING IMPEACHMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L LILONGWE 000540

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/S, INR/AA
STATE FOR EB/IFD/OMA FRANCES CHISHOLM
TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/AFRICA/BEN CUSHMAN
MCC FOR KEVIN SABA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/24/2015
TAGS: ECON KCOR KDEM PGOV PREL MI
SUBJECT: SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT COLLAPSES DURING IMPEACHMENT
DEBATE

REF: LILONGWE 00508

Classified By: Classified By: CDA D. Gilmour for reasons 1.4 b and d


1. (C) Summary: The Speaker of Parliament collapsed on the
House floor on June 23 as MPs debated procedures for possible
Presidential impeachment. He was then taken to the hospital,
stabilized, and then flown to South Africa. Parliament has
been indefinitely suspended, and it is unclear who will take
the place of the well-regarded Speaker. Meanwhile, President
Mutharika has told donors that he does not believe that the
impeachment will proceed, because the charges will not stand
the scrutiny of judicial review. End summary.


SPEAKER SUFFERS HEART ATTACK
--------------


2. (U) Speaker Rodwell Munyenyembe fell into his chair as he
was trying to quiet a shouting match between MPs yesterday
around noon, suffering from an apparent heart attack.
Opposition MPs had put forward a motion to set up the
procedural mechanism within Parliament for the impeachment of
presidents or vice-presidents. The ability to impeach
presidents is laid out in the Constitution, but the
procedures for impeachment have never been added to
Parliament's "standing orders." This must be done before any
impeachment motions are presented.


3. (U) After the motion to set up impeachment proceedings was
put forward, the Speaker declared the issue must first go
through Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee. MPs then began
shouting back and forth, the Speaker stood up to quiet them,
and then collapsed back into his chair. Nearly twenty
minutes then passed before paramedics arrived.


4. (SBU) The attending hospital physician told Charge that
the speaker was "nearly dead" by the time he arrived at the
hospital, and that he had to be defibrillated and
resuscitated. The doctor speculated that he may have
suffered brain damage, but could not be sure because the
hospital did not have the required diagnostic equipment to
make a determination. The Speaker was evacuated to South
Africa by air ambulance late in the evening of June 23.


PRESIDENT SEEMINGLY NOT WORRIED ABOUT IMPEACHMENT
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5. (C) At precisely the same moment this drama was playing
out in Parliament, the ambassadors of the UK and Germany and
the UN ResRep were meeting with President Mutharika elsewhere
in State House, as part of a regular series of meetings with
donor heads of mission. The participants in that meeting
told Charge that the president briefly discussed the
impeachment effort, but dismissed it as political maneuvering
on the part of the opposition, particularly the UDF.
Mutharika opined that the charges would not stand the
scrutiny of judicial review. He lamented that the
impeachment debate was taking valuable time and energy from
the important business of parliament, particularly the budget.


COMMENT: SCHEDULE UNCERTAIN BUT BUDGET WILL LIKELY PASS
-------------- --------------


6. (SBU) The Speaker's exit leaves the current session of
Parliament, including the proposed budget and possible
impeachment motions, in flux. Parliament has been adjourned
indefinitely, and it is not clear if it will sit next week.
The Speaker is very highly regarded, and looked at as one of
the few people capable of maintaining order in the House.
His deputies are both junior MPs, and it is doubtful they
will be able to take his place effectively. If Munyenyembe
is unable to return, the President could put forward a new
candidate for speaker, but it is unclear who that might be.


7. (SBU) On the budget front, an opposition MP with whom we
met last week has publicly said Parliament will not reject
the budget. The Deputy chair of Parliament's Budget and
Finance Committee was quoted in the press as saying that the
opposition has some problems with the budget, but will not
completely derail it. Parliament's debate of the budget
itself has not yet begun, but many Malawians have expressed
concerns that the opposition might reject it for political
reasons.
GILMOUR