CBK adds second deputy governor, locks out civil servants

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) will get a second deputy governor to meet a legal requirement that has been breached for over five years in a hiring that will lock out bankers and other State employees.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) Tuesday opened the search for the vacant deputy governor’s post that will offer the banking regulator a new executive team with the retirement of Governor Patrick Njoroge and his sole assistant Sheila M’Mbijjewe in June next year.

The hiring of the second deputy governor will correct a legal breach that has been repeatedly raised by the Auditor-General.

The law enacted in 2015 demands that the executive team at the CBK be composed of the governor and two deputies.

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta ignored calls for the CBK to have two deputy governors during his nearly 10-year tenure.

Read: Auditor-General questions CBK failure to pick directors

The PSC notice comes in a period when President William Ruto, who was sworn in on September 13, is reviewing positions in government, including the recent appointment of Cabinet Secretaries and the ongoing search for Principal Secretaries.

CBK staff, bankers and civil servants have been locked out of the race for the bank’s deputy governor job after the PSC advertised the

post.

In a tightly set criteria, the PSC said no person will be appointed to the position of deputy CBK governor if she or he is a salaried employee of any public entity.

“No person shall be appointed as deputy governor... if he/she is a Member of the Parliament or a Member of a County Assembly, a salaried employee of any public entity (except on a secondment basis) or a director, officer, employee, partner in or shareholder of any specified bank or financial institution,” the PSC said without providing details.

The appointment of the second CBK governor is aimed at avoiding a leadership vacuum at the CBK in June when Dr Njoroge and Ms M’Mbijjewe will end their last term after serving the maximum eight years.

The lack of a second substantive deputy governor has attracted the attention of the Office of the Auditor-General, which has pushed for the filling of the post or amendments to reduce the number of deputy governor posts.

“The Central Bank of Kenya Act, Cap 491 states that there shall be two deputy governors who shall be appointed by the President through a transparent and competitive process and with the approval of Parliament. During the year under review, only one deputy governor was in office,” the Auditor-General stated in an audit of CBK books to June 30, 2022.

“There was no amendment to the CBK Act to provide for a reduction in the number of deputy governors.”

The CBK has further been indicted over failure to maintain the required number of non-executive directors at eight, with only four in place at the end of June.

Ms M’Mbijjewe has been the CBK’s only deputy governor since June of 2015 and was reappointed for a final four-year stint which runs concurrently with that of Dr Njoroge until June 17, 2023.

Read: Deputy CBK boss to work past the retirement age of 60

The country briefly had two deputy governors in 2015 when Ms M’Mbijjewe served together with Haron Sirima, who quit the CBK in October 2015.

Dr Sirima served as the assistant of Prof. Njuguna Ndungu, whose term as CBK governor lapsed in March 2015.

He was considered the natural successor to Prof Ndung’u, who was confirmed last week as Treasury Cabinet Secretary.

Dr Sirima is currently the Director-General, Public Debt Management Office at the National Treasury where he joined in 2018.

The term of CBK chairman Mohammed Nyaoga also lapses at the same time as that of governor and Ms M’Mbijjewe.