Malawi's President Chakwera dissolves cabinet over graft row

Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera on Monday sacked his entire cabinet over graft concerns, vowing to "confront all forms of lawless conduct by public officials".

"I have dissolved my entire cabinet effective immediately, and all the functions of cabinet revert to my office until I announce a reconfigured cabinet in two days," Chakwera said in a national address.

He added that the reconfigured cabinet will exclude Minister of Lands Kezzie Msukwa, who was arrested last month in a bribery case.

"This is to allow him to answer the corruption charges he is facing in court and clear his name there," Chakwera said.

The decision follows meetings last week with two influential groups, the Episcopal Conference of Malawi and the Public Affairs Committee, which comprises church groups that act as a government watchdog.

Both groups expressed concern over the president's indecisiveness in fighting corruption.

ECM, an assembly of Malawi's Catholic bishops, said authorities must ensure that no one is "pressurised, intimidated or influenced" in the pursuit for justice.

"Let no suspect, however powerful, wealthy or who their connections are, be shielded or protected," the bishops said in a statement.

Chakwera won 2020 elections by campaigning on promises to fight corruption in the poor southern African country.

The land minister's arrest was the second corruption scandal to erupt in less than a month.

Earlier in December, a corruption probe saw Malawi's former finance minister and an ex-central bank governor arrested on allegations they manipulated accounts to obtain loans from the International Monetary Fund