Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has tweeted up a diplomatic storm by sharply rebuking Zambian President Edgar Lungu for firing the country’s central bank governor.
Lungu abruptly terminated Bank of Zambia governor Denny Kalyalya’s contract on Saturday with immediate effect, but without explanation. However, Zambians believe it was because he was trying to rein in inflation and was also frank about the weakness of the economy.
Mboweni, a former governor of the SA Reserve Bank, tweeted on Sunday that, “Presidents in Africa must stop this nonsense of waking up in the morning and fire a Central Bank Governor! You cannot do that. This is not some fiefdoms of yours! Your personal property?! No!!”
“No. That Governor was a good fella,” Mboweni continued. “Why do we do these things as Africans. The President of Zambia must give us the reasons why he dismissed The Governor or else hell is on his way. I will mobilize!”
Meanwhile, The tweets have since been deleted.
The Zambian government’s chief spokesperson, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Dora Siliya, responded angrily by tweeting:
“We are very surprised with Tito Mboweni’s immature and improper criticism of a sovereign decision by Zambia.
“The Minister should be attending to COVID problems facing the South Africans, our focus here. We will pursue matter diplomatically.”
Lungu announced he had replaced Kalyalya as Bank of Zambia (BoZ) governor with Christopher Mvunga, the deputy secretary to the Cabinet, responsible for finance and economic development. The appointment was subject to ratification by the National Assembly, Lungu’s statement said.
