Debt burden leaves nation too dangerously exposed

It’s the job of the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya Patrick Ngugi Njoroge to know the location of every penny in Kenya. Dr Njoroge regulates all banks and oversees the liquidity of the economy. The CBK formulates monetary policy, promotes price stability, and issues currency. There is no more important institution — and person — in Kenya than the CBK in money matters. The CBK knows when money enters or exits Kenya. The CBK is supposed to know when you launder money. The CBK and its governor can bring down the economy, or a regime. Which begs the question — what does Dr Njoroge know about Eurobond and Kenya’s mounting debt? Is the national economy on the verge of collapse?

I raise these questions not as an indictment of Dr Njoroge. No — Kenya has never had a CBK governor who was more qualified, more ethical, and more unimpeachable. Dr Njoroge towers over all his predecessors combined. He is a moral giant in a sea of ethical dwarfs in Kenya’s political, financial, and economic sectors. Methinks he rues the day he left his cushy job at the IMF to take on the thankless task of policing our economy. That’s because Kenya’s public service is a snake pit — those with clean hands are roadkill, and those with thieving sticky fingers are hallowed. Public thieves regard him as a villain because he foreswears material wealth. Dr Njoroge is a danger to the status quo.