Njoroge might just be what the doctor ordered for banks

As an old boy of Mang’u High School, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Patrick Njoroge should have found ready company in a government that has been top-heavy with ex-schoolmates since independence.

But the Yale-educated economist appears to have chosen the path of a lone ranger instead.

As a regulator, he strikes the pose of a rare breed that is keen to disrupt the ‘‘black box culture’’ of the banking industry which has traditionally let out information only after there has been a collapse.

More than 100 days since he assumed office in June, this jogging enthusiast has touched off a new wave of sensationalism in the financial market, putting Dubai Bank on death row and shutting the doors of Imperial Bank for one year.

Such actions, though widely applauded, have ruffled feathers in the conservative banking industry. The CBK has already been forced to dismiss speculation on social media that other banks could be in for a similar fate in the near future.

At a Press briefing to mark his first 97 days in office, however, Dr Njoroge exhibited the usual trait of many a central banker, approaching every question with caution and dropping macro-economic indicators here and there to justify contentious policy moves.

His ultimate goal, he would later tell journalists, is to maintain economic stability even if that means overriding market forces that should determine interest and foreign exchange rates.

“But it is essential to have close coordination between monetary and fiscal (budget) policy,” he acknowledges as the Treasury grapples with cash flow problems.

As a top banker, Dr Njoroge understands that Kenyans who have lost their savings or suffered the effects of currency manipulations in past banking scandals can only expect more biopsies than autopsies during his tenure.

“We are changing our banking supervision. We are improving the way we do it,” he said.

And so, Kenyans may ask, what is so different about this Mang’u alumnus who, like a number of his peers, went to Strathmore College before proceeding to the University of Nairobi for his undergraduate and master’s degrees? 

Did this former Treasury mandarin change his approach at the Yale University where he graduated in 1993 or at the IMF which he joined in early 1990s, shortly after Kenya rejected the so called structural adjustment programmes?

During his job interview, MPs fussed over the fact that a candidate nominated by President Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya’s next top banker was not married.

They also questioned his confidence in the economy because he did not bother to invest dollars earned from his plum IMF job back home.

Taxpayer-sponsored opulence

But three months later, Dr Njoroge wants to be judged by his work. When he assumed office he confounded many Kenyans by his utter rejection of taxpayer-sponsored opulence.

While this ground-level humility has so far been explained away as part of the creed of the Opus Dei congregation of the Catholic Church, there may be a real maverick behind the mask.

In a paper titled Unity in Development Work in a Multilateral Organisation authored during the time he served at the IMF, Dr Njoroge traces the origin of his Opus Dei faith to Strathmore College whose founders shared the same religious leaning.

“My parents wanted us to get the best education and that is how my brother and I ended up enrolling in Strathmore College for the last two years of high school. It was at Strathmore that I first got acquainted with the teaching and writing of Blessed Josemaria,” he says in the paper.

The institution, he adds, also taught him how to relate with people from different backgrounds.

‘‘I have reflected on Blessed Josemaria’s teaching on how, while respecting human freedom and being enriched by diversity, a society can be built that is inspired by balanced views of society.”

It is not lost on observers that Dr Njoroge now heads a key sector in President Kenyatta’s welfare government that pumped billions of shillings into healthcare, education and agriculture, something that the IMF would not approve when he joined it as advisor in 1993.

He says in his Twitter account: “I am an economist, a global citizen, running enthusiast, passionate about Africa, ex-IMF...”

For a person who has held high profile jobs in Kenya and abroad, one may find Dr Njoroge’s social network something of a surprise.

He follows just 19 entities on Twitter out of who only eight are Kenya-based. Since joining the social site in 2009 Dr Njoroge has managed to build a network of a mere 1,426 followers. 

By comparison, this circle is by far smaller than the 11,500 followers of Kenya Commercial Bank chief executive Joshua Oigara who joined Twitter in 2011 and the 5,119 that Equity chief executive James Mwangi has attracted from April 2011.

Apart from Mr Kenyatta, the CBK and the Business Daily – which a man of his position would follow for obvious reasons – Dr Njoroge’s list is not short of surprises. He follows photo activist Boniface Mwangi, anti-graft crusader John Githongo and athletes Lorna Kiplagat and David Rudisha.

He writes: “I have developed strong friendship with those colleagues with whom I work closely. Those friendships have developed not only because we have experienced together both personal successes and failures but also by sharing our own personal triumphs, concerns and difficulties.”

The paper adds: ‘‘I need to be united to Christ. To this end, my daily effort to seek sanctity and sanctify my work finds expression rooted in divine filiation that leads to a very familiar dealing with God and a trusting abandonment in his providence.”

His faith aside, Dr Njoroge is a man with his fingertips on the pulse of the global economy. He frequently tweets and engages his follows about economic development in the US, sub-Saharan Africa and the emerging economies.

He also engages popular local economic commentators on topical issues online.

When he takes a break, he post tweets celebrating Kenyan athletes, especially where the home team is on a roll.