By SILUMESI MALUMO
DISMISSED Bank of Zambia (BoZ) Governor, Danny Kalyalya, had lost focus in the last few years and Pres- ident Edgar Lungu needed to inject fresh leadership at the central bank, former Finance Minister, Katele Kalumba has said.
Meanwhile, former Finance Deputy Minister, Danny Pule, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa must fire his minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, because his statement against President Lungu would affect the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
And Bemba chiefs are optimistic that the newly appointed BoZ Governor, Mr Christopher Mvunga, would help revamp the dwindling economy.
Dr Kalumba said Dr Kalyalya had failed to improve the monetary policy.
He said in an interview yesterday that fiscal and monetary policies were macroeconomic tools used to manage or stimulate the economy and that failure to improve them had negative- ly impacted the economy.
He said that Zambia right now needed strong actions to arrest the downhill trend of monetary and fiscal policies.
The former minister said that Dr Kalyalya did not put aggressive measures to sta- bilise the Kwacha.
Such actions, Dr Kalumba said, showed that the for- mer governor had no new idea that could foster im- provement in the economy.
“There was also misdirection by the team led by Dr Kalyalya to position itself to engage the International Monetary Fund, all these are failures.
“I pray that Mr Mvunga will coordinate the team at the Central Bank and the financial institutions. He must ignore the critics and pay attention on improving the economy,” Dr Kalumba said.
When contacted, Dr Kalyalya declined to comment on the matter.
And Dr Pule said the South African Finance Min- ister had no right to comment on decisions made by presidents of other sovereign countries.
He said in a separate interview that Mr Mboweni was ignorant of how diplomacy worked because it stops other countries from interfere in internal affairs.
Dr Pule said it was therefore important that President Ramaphosa fire him to sustain the good relationship of the two countries.
Bemba chiefs are also confident that Mr Mvunga was the right person to put the economy on the right path.
Speaking on their behalf, Chief Chikwanda said with the vast experience Mr Mvunga had in the banking sector he would use his skills to improve the economy.
