According to a statement from State House, President Rupiah Banda has fired his Science and Technology minister Gabriel Namulambe.
The statement, which states that the sacking of the minister was with immediate effect, also said that the president would announce a replacement at a later date.
Namulambe’s dismissal comes after weeks of speculation about his future, after he claimed in a press statement released last month that the Banda government had failed to uphold late president Levy Mwanawasa’s legacy.
President Rupiah Banda ascended to the presidency in the 2008 presidential elections after the death of Mwanawasa.
In his election campaign, Banda promised the electorate that he would continue with the legacy left by Mwanawasa of zero tolerance to corruption, and strong economic policies.
However, corruption has been on the rise since Banda took office while the country’s economy took a nose dive for the worse, mainly as a result of the global economic recession but for which Banda was blamed for not having a survival plan.
Namulambe recently said President Banda had failed the Lamba speaking people to which Mwanawasa belonged, and that the current government had failed to implement a sound economic program.
The statement from the State House did not state the reasons for the firing of Namulambe but many will believe it was his comments that had earned him the boot.
Source African Press Agency
