Former NIC Bank chief executive James Macharia, who also served as a Cabinet Secretary in the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, has made a comeback into the public eye after being named the chairman of Sidian Bank in a board overhaul.
Mr Macharia who served in various dockets during both terms of the Jubilee administration has not held another public role since the exit of the Uhuru government in 2022.
The career banker also makes a return to an industry he served for over four decades, including being the chief executive of the then NIC Bank Group, which now trades as NCBA Group after merger with CBA.
He is set to replace James Mworia, who has held the role of chairman at Sidian Bank since 2014, but is set to remain on the board of the lender.
“I’m happy to be joining Sidian Bank at a very exciting growth phase of the business. I thank my predecessors for a job well done, as I look forward to an exciting and transformational journey ahead,” Mr Macharia said in a statement.
The overhaul in Sidian’s board, which has also seen three new appointees, comes in the wake of Centum Investment Company Plc selling its 64 percent stake in the bank for Sh3.2 billion.
The three other appointments to the board are Professor Paul Gachanja, who is an Associate Professor of Economics at Kenyatta University, Apollo Ong’ara (a financial consultant) and Madhav Bhandari (the managing partner of accounting firm Baker Tilly).
Centum sold its Sidian shares to multiple buyers, including Pioneer General Insurance Limited, Wizpro Enterprises Limited and Afram Limited.
The firm previously planned to sell its Sidian stake to Nigeria’s Access Bank but the sale agreement was cancelled.
Mr Macharia joined the Kenyatta administration from the onset in 2013 and served as Cabinet Secretary through the second term to August 2022, holding various dockets including Health, Transport and Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development and Public Works.
He also acted as the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.
Prior to his run in government, Mr Macharia had an expansive banking career that also saw him hold various capacities at Standard Chartered Bank and the African Banking Corporation (ABC), where he rose to the position of managing director for operations in Zambia and Tanzania.
At NIC Group, Mr Macharia oversaw the expansion of the lender into Tanzania and Uganda.
Mr Macharia had begun his career in Deloitte’s tax consultancy division as a consultant chartered accountant in London before returning to Kenya in 1989.
Mr Mworia, who steps down as the chairman of Sidian, noted that the outgoing leadership has laid the groundwork for the bank’s future growth.
“It has been a great honour to serve as chairman of Sidian Bank since 2014, a period during which we successfully transitioned from K-Rep Bank to Sidian Bank and strengthened the institution’s foundation for sustainable growth,” he said.
“I am immensely proud of the progress the bank has made under the stewardship of a dedicated management team and staff, and of the continued trust of our customers and shareholders.”
