Panic has gripped the Central Bank of Kenya after the Kenya Kwanza administration executed a scathing purge at Kenya Revenue Authority that saw the ouster of Commissioner-General James Githii Mburu from Times Towers.
Mburu was summoned to State House and ordered to resign after he rubbed the government the wrong way. He paid Sh5 billion to the family of former president Uhuru Kenyatta for alleged services rendered to KRA, despite being instructed not to do so.
A similar purge executed at KRA is now looming at CBK where Governor Patrick Njoroge will be forced out months before the expiry of his final term.
Njoroge is considered rude by the current Mburu was fixed by the controversial Sh18 billion duty stamps tender awarded to a Swiss firm by the KRA. The scandal has the name of one Kimani and Njee Muturi, a former Solicitor General in Uhuru’s regime and State House operative prominently featuring.
Sicpa signed the contract in December 2012 at a cost that was later renegotiated and inflated. A red flag was also raised over extension of the Sicpa contract after over Sh600 million went missing in uncollected tax revenue as a result of fake stamps flooding the market.
He was recently sent home alongside senior KRA officials but after the taxman’s clean up, eyes are turning at CBK where Njoroge was appointed for a second and final four-year term by Uhuru on June 18 2019.
Pundits argue that the recent nomination of a Kalenjin, Susan Koech, as deputy CBK governor is part of the scheme to kick Njoroge and his board out for opposing the appointment.
Njoroge has openly opposed President William Ruto’s directives, including cancellation of Sh1m rule on bank deposits and withdrawals until speaker of national assembly Moses Wetang’ula stepped in.
But his situation has been made worse by the current trading of the Kenya shillings against the dollar that is affecting importers. CBK board is also under fierce criticism for engaging into projects of housing without following the due process of the law.
It is believed that Njoroge’s fate was sealed after he annoyed Kenya Kwanza leaders by censuring deputy president Rigathi Gachagua for causing alarm regarding the country’s foreign exchange reserves when he stated that CBK does not control foreign exchange for commercial banks.
He was refuting claims that the administration did not find enough foreign currency to pay for oil imports.
“The Central Bank of Kenya notes the comments by the deputy president Rigathi Gachagua on October 2 2022. CBK would like to provide the correct position regarding where oil importers obtain the requisite foreign exchange and about the adequacy of CBK’s foreign exchange cover,” Njoroge stated in a press statement.
Those pushing for his early exit believe that like Mburu, Njoroge is serving the interests Uhuru who gave him the job and not the Kenya Kwanza government.
He also accused of sabotaging Ruto’s regime by siding with investors who have refused to lend the government unless they are offered higher interest rates.
Njoroge and the CBK board colluded with KRA and Treasury in a deal that exempted the merged of Uhuru’s CBA and NIC bank from paying share transfer tax running into billions of shillings.
Kenya Kwanza also blames him for the Treasury’s move to abandon plans to float at least Sh120 billion Eurobond after interest demanded by investors doubled to about 12pc from 6.3pc a year earlier for a similar amount.
President Ruto’s allies also believe that Njoroge and the CBK board were used to bring into circulation new generation currency notes to curtail Kenya Kwanza campaigns after rumors spread that Ruto and allies had stashed billions of shillings in old notes for campaign purposes.
The troubled Njoroge will be forced to quit as CBK governor in a fair deal that will see him land on a soft spot instead of waiting to retire in June or to be kicked out through a tribunal.
It is believed that Ruto will appoint Koech as the CBK governor once Njoroge resigns. Her hiring is a scheme to correct a legal breach that has been repeatedly raised by the Auditor-General.
The law passed in 2015 stipulates that the executive team at the CBK must be composed of the governor and two deputies, but for nine years, CBK has operated with only one deputy governor.
