President Lazarus Chakwera will announce his new cabinet within the next 48 hours.

Presidential Press Secretary, Brian Banda, confirmed this during the statehouse briefing held on Monday morning at Mtunthama State Residence.

Banda was responding to a question regarding cabinet reshuffle which was raised during the State House briefing where he said the new cabinet follows a performance assessment that the president subjected the ministers to.

He said: “I can independently confirm that in the next two days President Chakwera will announce his cabinet.”

Initially, Chakwera gave his cabinet a probation period of five months after their appointment in July last year but later extended the period to the end of the first quarter of this year.

Earlier this month, commentators called upon president Chakwera to select cabinet ministers based on merit and not blood ties as it was with his first cabinet which also faced critics from the public.