Malawian President Joyce Banda has announced her new 23-member cabinet, which includes members from various political parties.

According to AFP, the president has placed herself as the Commander in chief of the Defence forces and the 8,000 man strong Malawi police force. She is also in charge of the civil service, disaster management, nutrition, and HIV and AIDS.

Various changes have been made which have seen the former justice minister Ephraim Chiume appointed to the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation portfolio, while former finance minister Ken Kandodo, a grand-nephew of Malawi's founder Kamuzu Banda, will take up defence.

The reshuffle has left former ministers who worked closely with the late Bingu wa Mutharika out of the cabinet, and restored several former officials who, like herself, were thrown out of Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party, including Khumbo Kachale, who has been named minister of health.

Malawi's Nyasa Times reports that the late president's brother and former Foreign Affairs minister, Peter Mutharika who was rumoured to be next in line to the presidency, has also been replaced.

Ministers who attempted to deny Banda the presidency after Mutharika's death were also shown the door and are facing charges for an attempted constitutional coup, according to the newspaper.

Banda, who formed her own People's party which became a vocal critic of Mutharika's economic policies, has been hard at work to bring Malawi back from an economic crisis after her predecessor had a fallout with foreign donors over democracy and human rights in the country.