Pundits say her performance as head of the Ifmis department influenced her appointment to the Cabinet, having worked closely with President Uhuru Kenyatta when he was Finance minister.
Until two years ago, her biggest dream was to become a principal secretary, working in the backroom and away from public attention, crafting and implementing government policies.
Today she is firmly in the hot seat as the minister for Devolution and Planning and it hasn’t been a rosy ride for Anne Waiguru. She has fought many battles across the political divide, including a failed attempt to impeach her in the National Assembly last year.
On Tuesday, she was back before a committee of Parliament to shed light on a Sh826 million attempted fraud at the National Youth Service (NYS), which falls under her docket, amid calls by politicians that she steps aside to allow for comprehensive investigation.
After close to an hour of grilling in a session that was marred by political infighting among members of the Finance, Planning and Trade Committee, Waiguru calmly walked out of Parliament all smiles, posing for the cameras after surviving yet another potential blow to her career.
These frequent battles, however, seem to have hardened the minister who prior to her appointment was the director of the Integrated Financial Management and Information System (Ifmis) at the ministry of Finance – and she no longer loses sleep over them.
“In the kind of job I do, you get people who like you and others who don’t like you. Those who don’t like you will say all manner of things about you,” she said in an interview at a local TV station.
Pundits say her performance as head of the Ifmis department influenced her appointment to the Cabinet, having worked closely with President Uhuru Kenyatta when he was Finance minister.
To some, Waiguru is a hard worker who gets things done efficiently but to others she is pushy and arrogant and they loathe her for that.
She acknowledges her desire for good results and says she would go an extra mile to ensure her team meets its targets.
“I work hard and if you are not a hard worker and not highly focused you will find me a bit pushy… but I would not say I am arrogant,” the mother of three boys says.
That Waiguru has a close working relation with the President is not in doubt, though she says all Cabinet secretaries receive the same attention.
A former Precious Blood Riruta student, Waiguru regards herself as a technocrat. At the Treasury where she previously worked, she was part of the group that conceived Ifmis, a system created to oversee the implementation of a unified financial management system and its adoption across all State departments in order to improve transparency and accountability in government functions. But her critics say she took credit for what was a team effort.
On the attempted fraud at the NYS, the CS feels she is wrongly targeted and would rather be seen as a whistleblower. In the saga, someone with the password of a NYS director made fraudulent entries into the system. The fictitious supply orders, worth Sh826 million, are currently being investigated by sleuths from the cybercrimes unit, who were alerted by the CS.
While several of her Cabinet colleagues recently stepped aside to allow for investigations into corruption allegations in their dockets after they were implicated, Waiguru reckons no work would get done if ministers were expected to keep stepping aside every time there is a problem in the many departments they oversee.
Davis Chirchir (Energy and Petroleum), Kazungu Kambi (Labour) and Felix Koskei (Agriculture) are currently on suspension as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission probes several allegations levelled against them.
But Michael Kamau (Transport and Infrastructure) and Charity Ngilu (Lands and Housing) have been arraigned in court on charges of corruption and abuse of office.
Waiguru, however, denies she is enjoying special favours from the President as minister.
“As a Cabinet secretary, you constantly consult with the President every day and every other Cabinet secretary does that. If that is what you call having the President’s ear then every Cabinet secretary has it,” she says.
She maintains she will not resign over the attempted fraud at NYS but will let investigations proceed to their conclusion.
“People don’t step aside because they have been asked to step aside. Stepping aside is something I have not put my mind around… There is no institution that is not tainted with corruption in one way or another,” she said during the TV interview.
Her close proximity with the President has also ruffled feathers within political circles amid talk that was being groomed for a bigger public office, a claim she denies.
“Absolutely not… absolutely not… I am a technocrat and I don’t think I am cut out for politics. I am a technocrat and happy to be one,” says the minister who was born in Kirinyaga.
After leaving Precious Blood, she sat for her A-level exams in 1989 at Moi Forces Academy in Nairobi where she studied mathematics, physics and chemistry. She holds a Master’s degree in Economic Policy from the University of Nairobi, and has specialised experience in public finance, financial management systems, public service reform, capacity building and governance.
Upon graduating, she worked for Transparency International as an intern and research assistant before joining the Kenya Leadership Institute.
When she is not busy at work, Waiguru enjoys reading, travelling, dancing and spending time with her three sons Ian, Don and Wabu. “I miss the normal life. As a Cabinet secretary you are never alone and you cannot do the things you want to do because you are constantly in the public eye,” she laments.
