President Uhuru Kenyatta has finally appointed five members to the Central Bank of Kenya board ending a close to two years vacuum at the powerful institution.
The directors are Rachel Bessie Dzombo, Samson Cherutich, Ravi Ruparel, Delius Kariuki and Charity Selina Kisotu.
Under a Kenya gazette notice number 9235 dated November 3, Ruparel, Kariuki and Kisotu’s appointment came into effect on November 4, 2016.
The three will serve on the board for four years.
Dzombo and Cherutich will commence work tomorrow (December 1), and will also sit on the board for the next four years.
The term of the immediate former directors ended in March 2015. Parliament approved the appointees last month.
The President appointed lawyer Mohammed Nyaoga as CBK chair in June 2015, but he has been without a full board, raising concerns that lack of a properly constituted board was undermining the oversight of the bank’s executive performance.
This is in the wake of recent developments in the banking sector where three institutions – Chase Bank, Imperial Bank and Dubai Bank were placed under receivership, the suspension of six National Bank of Kenya managers, and the capping of interest rates.
In an earlier interview with the Star, Nyaoga had dismissed claims that lack of a full board had hurt operations at the banking industry regulator.
“Supervision and oversight are going on without any effects. Most of the management decisions don’t need a board to be implemented,” Nyaoga told the Star in an interview on May 30.
Under the CBK Act, the board is charged with determining the policy of the bank, keeping under constant review the performance of the bank, and constantly reviewing the performance of the governor.
It is also charged with determining whether the policy statements made are consistent with the bank’s primary function and policy objectives.