Muluzi's Office of the President and Cabinet released a brief statement from the administrative capital Lilongwe saying that all official duties by the ministers and their deputies would be handled by the president's office from yesterday.
"The president has dissolved the cabinet with effect from today (Monday)," the statement said without elaborating.
The surprise move comes a month before Muluzi was expected to dissolve both the cabinet and 193-member parliament on March 20, ahead of general elections on May 18.
"There was no immediate indication that the president is going to appoint a new cabinet although he needs one before the general elections in May," an official from Sanjika Palace, the president's home in the commercial capital Blantyre, said.
The current cabinet was appointed last year and included five ministers and deputies from the opposition Alliance for Democracy (Aford) under a loose government of national unity.
Under the alliance, Aford's leader Chakufwa Chihana was appointed second vice president.
Muluzi's United Democratic Front (UDF) and Aford were set to sign an electoral pact later yesterday, and observers speculated that he might have dissolved the cabinet to include more Aford members in a new cabinet before the elections. – Sapa-AFP.
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