Minister of Labour, Youth and Manpower Development, Henry Mussa on Tuesday took over the role of suspended Minister of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development Dr. George Chaponda in responding to some of the questions posed by Member of Parliament in the August House.

The High Court in Mzuzu suspended Chaponda pending the release of the ongoing inquiry into the Zambia maize-gate.

Since Parliament resumed debating Chaponda has not reported for duties.

The development has raised questions among Malawians with others speculating that Chaponda is following the court order suspending him.

Mussa, who is the government chief whip in the House, managed to respond to the first question through a written response from the ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Development but threw out all the supplementary questions, saying they were new questions all together which needed to be filed and put on Order Paper.

This did not please opposition MPs who accused Mussa of lacking seriousness in his response.

Meanwhile Speaker of the National Assembly Richard Msowoya has recognized Kondwani Nankhumwa as caretaker leader.