Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has dissolved the country’s entire cabinet over charges of graft against some of his ministers, he said in an address to the nation late on Monday.
The implicated Minsiters are Lands Minister Kezzie Msukwa, accused of benefitting from land deals involving a UK-based Malawian businessman, Labour Minister Ken Kandodo accused of diverting COVID-19 funds and Energy Minister Newton Kambala accused of interfering in the award of fuel import deals.
The Southern African nation is amongst the smallest countries in the continent hard hit by floods, prolonged droughts, locust invasion and the coronavirus pandemic, leaving about 1.8 million people in need of food aid.
Though small in size, it features in the top ten in Africa in terms of population density.
Chakwera, who is also the head of Malawi Congress Party (MCP), the country’s oldest and the biggest in the ruling Tonse Alliance, said he would look to reinstate a new cabinet in the next 48 hours.
He had been facing increasing rebellion from within the coalition with many of its members accusing his party of corruption, favouritism and pushing the country to the brink of an economic collapse.
The President’s decision come close on the heels of the arrest of three former officials of the former ruling party Democratic Progressive Party, which included the former finance minister and central bank governor, touted to be his prime challengers for the polls slated for 2025.
