LILONGWE, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Malawian President Peter Mutharika on Wednesday named a new 24-member cabinet in which he has included five women and made former agriculture minister Joseph Mwanamvekha the new minister of finance.
The new cabinet has 18 full ministers and six deputies, a total of 24 and up from 20 in the last cabinet, according to a statement released by Lloyd Muhara, chief secretary to the government.
Mutharika has made his vice president, Everton Chimulirenji, minister responsible for disaster and relief management and public events, while Mark Michael Botomani has become the country's minister of information and civic education.
By virtue of being information minister, Botomani will also be the government's spokesperson.
Mutharika has retained five former cabinet ministers, namely Foreign Minister Francis Kasaila, Homeland Security Minister Nicholas Dausi, Kondwani Nankhumwa, who is now minister of agriculture, Bright Msaka, now minister of justice, and Jappie Mhango, now health minister.
Five women appear in Mutharika's new cabinet -- three of them, Martha Chiuluntha Ngwira, Grace Kwelepeta and Esther Majaza, as deputies for the education, gender and local government ministries respectively.
The two other women who were appointed as full ministers are Martha Lunji as labor minister and Mary Navicha as minister of gender, children, disability and social welfare.
Mutharika won a tight race in May with 38.5 percent of the vote, securing another five-year presidential term.
