Malawi Congress Party (MCP) members have demanded President Lazarus Chakwera to reshuffle his cabinet and to fire Secretary to the Office of President and Cabinet Zangazanga Chikhosi.
The MCP members under a grouping called Second Liberation of Malawi Nation have made the demands in a letter to Chakwera signed by former legislator Alex Major.
The grouping has reminded Chakwera that he promised to reshuffle his cabinet after five months in power.
“Covid-19 must not be the scapegoat for not doing so, other things are being done though Covid is rampant,” reads part of the letter.
The grouping is also demanding Chakwera to fire Secretary to the President and Cabinet Chikhosi and his deputy Janet Banda saying its members will hold a vigil at Capital Hill if this is not done February 21.
According to the MCP members, Chikhosi has never been a member of the MCP and has close connections to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which saw him being appointed Comptroller of Statutory Corporation when DPP was in power.
The grouping in their letter have accused Chikhosi of being behind unprocedural awarding of contracts, ignoring Chakwera’s directive on NOCMA and promoting civil servants suspected of being DPP operatives.
“Apart from frustrating the Tonse Government, he is on the forefront sidelining those who fought for the liberation of Malawi under his party of DPP and he is busy rewarding and recalling his friends from retirement to pick up jobs meant for young people who have belief in Tonse philosophy,” reads part of the letter.
The grouping has also accused Chakwera of filling State House with members of his church, Assemblies of God, and immediate family members.
According to the grouping, these include State House Chief Staff Prince Kapondamgaga, Communications Director Sean Kampondeni, Gideon Kalumbu and Samson Lembani.
The grouping has asked Chakwera to analyse how such individuals found their way to State House. It has also demanded the Malawi leader to recall diplomats and remove senior civil servants in order to replace them with loyal members of the MCP.
The group claims to have support from members of MCP and Tonse Alliance and has said it will hold prayers in March so that their concerns should be heard.
