Opposition threaten to boycott parliament opening

The opposition alliance of the Malawi Congress Party and the Alliance for Democracy have threatened to boycott the state opening of Parliament on Monday, news reports said on Friday. Dan Msowoya, the alliance's joint secretary for information, was quoted as saying that it would not make sense for opposition lawmakers to attend Parliament where President Bakili Muluzi is scheduled to make his traditional opening address. "If we attend Parliament we will be contradicting ourselves since the opposition leadership has taken its challenge to Muluzi's legitimacy to the highest court in Malawi," he was quoted as saying.