NAIROBI (Reuters) – Two senior economic advisers to Kenya’s president are among a shortlist of six who will be interviewed for the job of central bank governor, which will become vacant in June.
Kamau Thugge, who served as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in 2013-2018, has been short-listed for the job, alongside Adan Mohamed, who served in the cabinet in 2013-2022.
Both are now advisers in President William Ruto’s office. The shortlist of six was published late on Tuesday by the Public Service Commission, which is leading the recruitment.
The post will become vacant in June when Governor Patrick Njoroge’s tenure ends after eight years.
Thugge was a senior staffer at the International Monetary Fund in Washington before joining government, while Mohamed served as a chief executive of Barclays Bank of Kenya, now Absa Bank.
They will face off for the post with four others, including the current head of the debt office in the finance ministry, and a former head of planning in the finance ministry.
The next governor will face a challenging task due to a heavy government debt burden, which is threatening to upend years of macro stability.
They will also have to deal shilling currency’s sharp depreciation, which has been partly blamed for inflationary pressure.
All six candidates will be interviewed by the commission on Tuesday next week, which will then forward a shorter list of its preferred candidates for the president to choose from.
(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by George Obulutsa & Simon Cameron-Moore)