CBK Governor nominee Kamau Thugge promises to stabilise shilling against the dollar

Thugge who appeared before the committee stated that his first cause of action once he assumes office will be to stabilise the shilling against the dollar by issuance of dollar-denominated bonds to free up dollars held up in bank accounts.

"We can issue a dollar-denominated bond to see how we can entice Kenyans who have dollars into their account that are not in use. I know that there are more than 1 trillion in deposits which can ease the pressure on the dollar," said Thugge.

The CBK Governor nominee added that the Central Bank of Kenya under his stewardship will focus on reducing the fiscal deficit which was increased by borrowing to finance mega infrastructural projects and also increasing revenue mobilisation by KRA to plug the deficit.

"Our revenue mobilization has declined over the years and also we have seen infrastructure projects that have increased external borrowing. How do we deal with this? We will look to reduce the budgetary deficit to 4% of GDP and this will be one of the major ways of addressing the debt issue in the country," said Thugge.

On the Kimwarer and Arror dams scandal, Thugge told the committee that the charges against him were dropped and that he is now a State witness working with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

Thugge was hounded out of office as Treasury Principal Secretary after being linked to a multi-billion dam project corruption probe in 2019.

"I was wrongly charged on a matter that was for another ministry. The DPP looked at the charges then dropped them and made me a state witness. The matter is in court," he said.

Thugge told the committee that he is worth Ksh.450 million spread out on real estate investments, shares and cash in hand.

He added that he has no shares with any bank which would present the issue of a conflict of interest.

Over his tenure as a public servant, Thugge said that his most significant achievement was reducing the number of licences required to set up a business in Kenya from 1,400 to 600 which significantly improved the ease of doing business.