Zambia opposition faction leader minister sacked
Wednesday November 07 2018
Happier days: Sacked Works and Supply minister Felix Mutati (right) with Zambian President Edgar Lungu. MICHAEL CHAWE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Zambian President Edgar Lungu has sacked from his cabinet the leader of a faction of the former governing Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD)) party.
Mr Felix Mutati, who was the Works and Supply minister, was sent packing on Tuesday, following the revocation of his nomination as an MP.
He was replaced by Mr Mutotwe Kafwaya, a legislator in his former Lunte Constituency in the north.
Speaking at State House on Tuesday, President Lungu said he had the discretion to “hire and fire”.
Old outfits
He termed the dismissal of Mr Mutati “necessary”.
Mr Mutati's leadership of the MMD faction is matter of contest in the court.
A former tele-evangelist, another faction leader, Mr Nevers Mumba, has asked the court to renounce the Mutati group, describing it as illegitimate and illegal.
Mr Mutati's appointment to the cabinet was largely viewed as a “good omen” to the opposition members of the former ruling party, although the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party members called it a “siege”.
Several MMD members have been appointed to ministerial positions, occasioning most of them to officially ditch their old outfits, now deemed to be falling apart and into extinction.