Dr. Kamau Thugge is Kenya’s new Central Bank Governor.

Dr. Thugge who has taken over office, becomes Kenya’s tenth Governor of the central bank of Kenya, His assumption of office follows his appointment by President William Ruto, to take over from Patrick Njoroge, whose 8 year term ended over the weekend.

In a gazette notice dated 13th June, the Head of State announced that he had Dr. Thugge to serve for a period of four years, effective today, June 19, 2023.

Dr. Thugge was until his elevation, the Senior Advisor to the President and Head of Fiscal and Budget Affairs.

It was  while working at the Ministry of Finance as the Director of Fiscal and Monetary Affairs between 2005 and 2008, that, according to his resume, he persuaded the then Finance minister not to factor in donor budgetary support. This was was part of Kenya’s Third President Mwai Kibaki’s shift towards economic self-reliance.

The policy that has been followed to date, has resulted in reducing Kenya’s dependency on donor support, and effectively led to Kenya turning to self-dependency.

Dr. Thugge previously served as the Principal Secretary at the National Treasury, and had a long and distinguished career in the international and Kenyan public service. He had previously worked in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in both policymaking and non-policymaking departments.

Before joining the Ministry of Finance he worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) both in the policy making Departments and non-policy making Departments as Economist/Senior Economist and Deputy Division Chief.

Dr Thugge holds a Bachelors of Arts (Economics) (198) from Colorado College, USA, Masters in Economics (1982) from Johns Hopkins University, USA and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics (1990) from Johns Hopkins University, USA.