Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera sacked Defence Minister Harry Mkandawire in a mini Cabinet reshuffle Wednesday.
Chakwera also fired Deputy Education Minister Nancy Mdooko and reassigned other ministers to new portfolios in a move he said in his New Year’s message to the nation was aimed at “offering the best service to the country in 2025.”
Chakwera had come under intense pressure from various sectors of society to fire Mkandawire over the manner in which the death of Vice-President Saulosi Chilima on June 10 last year in a military plane crash was handled.
Chilima and eight others died in the crash in a forest in the northern part of Malawi in dense fog and the military has been accused of “negligence” in terms of organizing search and rescue efforts.
'Right direction'
George Phiri, political and social commentator, applauded the president for his decision to sack Mkandawire, describing it as a “step in the right direction.”
“At least the president has demonstrated that he has heard what people have been saying about the Ministry of Defense and the minister responsible. Although the decision to sack him has come a bit late, it’s better than no action at all. Ministers and other public servants should be held accountable for their actions,” Phiri told Anadolu.
But some critics have faulted the president for maintaining a 31-member Cabinet at a time when the country’s economy is “bleeding.”
Economist Milward Tobias told Anadolu that the idea to maintain 31 cabinet ministers “was just being insensitive to the plight of Malawians.”
'Trim cabinet'
“The state of our economy is very poor at the moment, and the president could have seized this as an opportunity to trim the size of his cabinet. Our economy isn’t fit to accommodate a cabinet of this size. The government has to be sensitive to what people are complaining about. They are preaching of austerity measures, but there is nothing on the ground to demonstrate that,” Tobias said.
Malawians are gearing up to head to the polls in September, and already the political temperature is heating up.
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