South Africa’s Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni has rebuked 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. Zambians believe this was a move to rein in inflation.
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!!”
Mboweni’s tweets have since been deleted.
The Zambian government’s chief spokesperson, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Dora Siliya, has since responded by tweeting:
“We are very surprised with Tito Mboweni’s immature and improper criticism of a sovereign decision by Zambia.
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.