Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has sacked his junior Lands Minister, a close ally, in a corruption crackdown aimed at stopping illegal allocation of housing plots, a presidential aide said on Monday.
Deputy Lands Minister Moses Muteteka, who is married to a niece of Mwanawasa’s wife Maureen, was sacked over allegations of illegal allocation of housing plots, press spokesperson David Kombe said.
”President Mwanawasa has with immediate effect relieved deputy Minister of Lands Moses Muteteka of his duties. This is to allow the ongoing investigations for his role in corrupt practices in the allocation of land,” Kombe said in a statement.
Three weeks ago, Mwanawasa sacked Lands Minister Gladys Nyirongo for allegedly allocating eight plots to her family amid accusations of corruption in the award of plots by some senior officials in the ministry.
Several senior officials in the Ministry of Lands have been suspended in the corruption crackdown.
This month, police joined Lusaka city council workers to demolish houses built in high density Lusaka suburbs without the authority of the council.
The programme recalled a campaign undertaken in neighbouring Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe’s government, which provoked an international outcry in 2005 by destroying thousands of illegal homes.
Zambia’s demolitions continued at the weekend and spread to other towns.
Some residents have said they will seek compensation from the government for demolishing their houses, but no legal case has been taken to the courts so far.
Mwanawasa, who has been accused by the opposition of allegedly offering government jobs to friends and family members, vowed in February that he would not spare anyone in the fight against corruption because his campaign to rid Zambia of graft was being hampered by civil servants.
Muteteka, who served as a Mwanawasa senior private secretary prior to the 2006 presidential elections, is a ruling party legislator representing an area near Mwanawasa’s home district in central Zambia.
In 2002, Mwanawasa launched Zambia’s biggest anti-corruption crackdown since the country’s independence from Britain in 1964, targeting mainly his predecessor Frederick Chiluba and senior officials who served in his government. – Reuters