Malawi president dissolves cabinet over the financial scandal

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Joyce Banda is expected to announce new cabinet in due course.(SABC)
Joyce Banda is expected to announce new cabinet in due course.(SABC)

Malawi President Joyce Banda dissolved the cabinet on Thursday. This follows the arrest of several junior officials in her government in recent weeks on suspicion of stealing state funds.

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According to a statement from the presidency, Banda will announce a new cabinet in due course. The statement did not elaborate.

The presidency had said on Wednesday that Banda would meet her cabinet the following day to discuss the financial scandal and who was responsible.

It did not disclose details of Thursday’s meeting, but a senior government official, who asked not to be named, said Banda told the cabinet that she had “lost faith” in them.

The scandal, known locally as “cash-gate”, forced the government to shut down its payment system last week so that it could investigate over 4 million dollars that went missing, delaying the payment of salaries to teachers, nurses and doctors.

The police said that about 10 junior government officials had been arrested so far for suspected graft, and that they had recovered tens of thousands of dollars in cash from their car boots and homes.

A small group of protesters marched in the capital Lilongwe on Thursday and delivered a petition calling for the sacking of top officials, including Finance Minister Ken Lipenga, over the scandal.

Lipenga has denied any wrongdoing. He was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

Last week, envoys from eight Western donor nations, whose aid traditionally has accounted for about 40 percent of the state budget, asked Banda to deal with the alleged corruption at the treasury and investigate an attack on the budget director.

Babatunde Akinsola
Babatunde Akinsolahttps://naija247news.com
Babatunde Akinsola is aNaija247news' Southwest editor. He's based in Lagos and writes on the Yoruba Nation political issues, news and investigative reports

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