Peter Mutharika, the president of the tiny African state of Malawi (pictured) has suddenly relegated General Ignacio Maulana, the head of the army, to a job at the National Food Reserve Agency. The country's press is suggesting that his unexplained decision might be linked to a corruption scandal.

Mutharika has replaced Maulana with his deputy, Lieut Gen Griffin Supuni, while moving former army spokesman Clement Namangale into second place in turn. Mutharika is being tight-lipped about his reason for sacking the senior officer. Speculation abounds that Maulana was actually standing up to corruption in the higher echelons of the Government, trying to block an allegedly corrupt deal in which cabinet ministers engineered a purchase by the army of 500 vehicles from Ashok Leyland, India's second largest commercial motor manufacturer with a turnover of US$2½ billion in 2010-11. Apparently someone reported the scandal to the Anti-Corruption Bureau but the ministers sabotaged its subsequent enquiry.

The Nyasa Times has pointed the finger at two unnamed cabinet ministers from Lhomwe Belt for plotting Maulana's downfall. It also named (without directly accusing) Ashok Leyland executives Mohan Krishnan, Partha Chodhuru and another man whose surname is Ramachandaran. They allegedly met Supuni and the Malawi Defence Force's director of logistics, Elias Kapalamula, recently.

Mutharika is gaining a reputation for overlooking corruption as he is refusing to fire seven cabinet ministers who have become embroiled in the scandal called 'Cashgate,' involving 577 billion kwacha (£600 million) of public monies. Details of the scandal, many of which are not publicly known, came to light in a recent forensic report that the Government has so far suppressed. The Nyasa Times states that "social media is awash with the names that include Mutharika's strong man, agriculture minister George Chaponda, Mutharika's right-hand man, finance minister Goodall Gondwe and...labour minister Henry Mussa." In Parliament, Mzimba West MP Harry Mkandawire (PP) has also mentioned Chaponda, who is leader of Malawi's unicameral assembly. In line with all presidents of countries where top-level corruption is endemic, Mutharika has a much-publicised anti-corruption campaign on the go.