Malawi President Banda mulls reshuffle
Malawi President Joyce Banda is set to announce a reshuffle of her Cabinet anytime soon, which ruling People’s Party (PP) insiders said would signal a further shift towards even more brave reforms, as her government seeks to retain power in next year’s tripartite elections.
Highly placed sources said President Banda had been considering a reshuffle after she ordered law enforcement agencies to deal with all suspects involved with the Capital Hill financial mess and that there should be no sacred cows.
“Heads are going to roll when the President arrives back home from abroad,” he source told Nyasa Times, declining to be named.
President Banda is heading back home this week from United States where she has been since the Budget Director Paul Mphwiyo was shot by unknown assailants and since then there have been revelations of financial maladministration in government and followed with arrests.
“President Banda is expected to make a government reorganisation,” tipped the source.
The President’s office declined to discuss any possible cabinet changes.
Meanwhile, published reports indicate that President Banda raised the alarm about the plundering of government resources five months ago and summoned Minister of Finance Ken Lipenga and other officials to a meeting to devise mechanisms to seal the loopholes.
Some of the people who attended the meeting convened by the President were Deputy Auditor General Rex Chiluzi, former Treasury budget director Dalitso Kabambe, former Accountant General Dorothy Banda and some officials from the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC).
Banda is said to have ordered treasury officials to abandon the porous Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) payment platform that public officers used to siphon government money.
Nation on Sunday reported that the loopholes in IFMIS were first raised in 2011 when an officer in the Accountant General’s Office was found with K404 million (about $1.01m) in a personal account
