By Lambwe Kachali
Former finance minister Ng’andu Magande says, it is expected that President Edgar Lungu’s decision to fire Bank of Zambia Governor Denny Kalyalya was made after extensive consultations.
And Kalyalya says at an opportune time, he will make a statement on his dismissal as Bank of Zambia chief.
Yesterday, with immediate effect, President Lungu fired Kalyalya as Bank of Zambia Governor and replaced him with Christopher Mvunga. Mvunga was deputy Secretary to the Cabinet for finance and economic development.
The Head of State then appointed Ministry of National Development and Planning director Dr Mike Masiye to take up the position of deputy Secretary to the Cabinet.
And, Magande told Daily Revelation that, going by how important the Bank of Zambia is, it was expected that President Lungu made the changes based on consultations with his advisors.
He said the authority to appoint and disappoint was entirely a prerogative of the President, therefore, the Head of State might have made such a decision based on the country’s current economic environment.
“Some people say the executive is too powerful and these are the issues that the position of governor is the prerogative of the president who takes a name to parliament. So, at that point it becomes very difficult then to…I (can) imagine that the Head of State has not made adequate consultations. So, I presume he has made the changes based on what to do for this country’s current economic environment. And he has gotten advice from his advisors there that this is best thing to do. If it was just someone else, then you could say, oh!, the commission was just too big or public service they didn’t do this. But if it’s an individual who is the Commander in Chief, we expect that the decisions are made after extensive consultations,” he noted.
Magande however said it was difficult to provide an assessment about Dr Kalyalya and his successor as he knew little about them.
“On the individuals that are there, it becomes difficult for anybody who hasn’t really had a personal working relationship, especially at my level. I didn’t work with these people. I wouldn’t say whether they are capable or whether they are sober or whatever they are, it will be very very difficult,” said Magande. “It is very difficult to make an assessment.”
Meanwhile, Dr Kalyalya, when contacted said he was unable to talk about his dismissal, but would do so at the right time.
“I am afraid, I can’t comment right now. I am not in a position to comment right now. At the moment, I am not able to make a comment. At an opportune time, I will make a comment,” said Dr Kalyalya.
Dr Kalyalya was appointed to lead the country’s central bank in 2015 at a time when the macroeconomic outlook had already started showing signs of uncertainty. These difficulties were compounded by falling copper prices, drought, infrastructure development which went beyond budget threshold among others.
After his appointment, Dr Kalyalya laid out his plans to revive the country’s dwindling macroeconomic outlook.
-Daily Revelation