Anne Waiguru - A career timeline

What you need to know:

  • In 2002, now working with the Kenya Leadership Institute, Waiguru and Ndii co-author the Urban Bribery Index as consultants for Transparency International.
  • After Uhuru Kenyatta becomes President-elect in April 2015, Anne Waiguru joins his transition team in advance of his swearing-in, together with Mr Njee Muturi and Mr Bruce Odhiambo.
  • On December 2015, Ms Waiguru's home is searched by detectives of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Agency.

The resignation of Anne Waiguru as Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and Planning on November 21, 2015 ended a career in cabinet that was as memorable as it was short.

While much of the coverage about her focused on her no-nonsense management style, it was what she appeared to believe in, and work towards, that makes her story particularly compelling.

Nation Newsplex looked at the career timeline of Ms Waiguru, including documents and articles she has authored. They reveal a tenacious debater unafraid to comment publicly on sensitive topics and an anti-corruption researcher who understood from early on the harm corruption could cause.

No criminal charges have been laid against her, but the stark nature of her predicament cannot be gainsaid. A person who started her career fighting corruption and crusading for rectitude and efficiency in government must now fight back accusations of allowing corruption under her watch.

2001

At the turn of the millennium, Ms Waiguru, with a master’s degree in economic policy from the University of Nairobi, is working at Transparency International-Kenya as an intern. While there, she does some groundbreaking work with economist David Ndii, including two publications Newsplex has seen. Mr John Githongo, who was a founding member of Transparency International-Kenya, was also involved, but declined to comment for this article. 

The 2001 report by Transparency International found that harambees spiked in the run-up to the 1997 election. GRAPHIC | TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL

By 2001, Ms Waiguru is the principal researcher for a project that finds the incidence of harambees increased during election years, and that politicians were the most frequent contributors. The biggest single contributor by far is President Moi, contributing a total of Sh150 million from 1980 to 1999. According to the report Harambee: Pooling Together or Pulling Apart:

“Following the adoption of multiparty politics, Harambee, it can be argued, has become a vehicle for bribing voters. The fact that so much money is raised and spent in the name of development and no accountability is expected, raises the question of whether it is realistic to expect Kenyans to value accountability of public funds”.

The report’s final paragraph chooses its words carefully. “A key question that this research does not pretend to answer, but arises out of the data is: where does all the money that goes into harambee donations come from?”

In 2002, now working with the Kenya Leadership Institute, Ms Waiguru and Dr Ndii co-author the Urban Bribery Index as consultants for Transparency International. The report reveals the Kenya Police to be the most corrupt public institution in the country.

On April 8, 2002, Ms. Waiguru writes an article for the Daily Nation's "Blackboard" magazine about the necessity of forcing children to repeat classes. “Too often, and especially with our current system of education, a child is considered lazy when expectations about him are too high," she argues.

On April 8, 2002 Ms. Waiguru writes an article for the Daily Nation's "Blackboard" magazine about the necessity of forcing children to repeat classes. PHOTO | NATION ARCHIVES

2004

By this time Ms Waiguru has been a consultant for the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Transparency International. Now at the World Bank, she is coordinating the East African chapter of the World Bank’s parliamentary network (PNoWB).

2006

Ms Waiguru is serving as a technical adviser for the World Bank, which seconds her to the Government of Kenya, in the Cabinet Office. Her appointment comes in the wake of John Githongo’s resignation and exile from government after he revealed what would become known as the Anglo Leasing scandal.

In April 2006, she speaks at the World Ethics Forum at Oxford University on “The circular flow of values and the role codes play in building integrity in the public service”.

Two months later, the future Cabinet secretary carries out a research project for the World Bank and Stellenbosch University that aims to assess matters of “integrity and professionalism in the procurement of professional consultants” by the World Bank. Excerpts from the report, published in December 2006, reveal her understanding of the flaws in government procurement:

“…many of the Kenya government services and supplies are contracted to firms and organizations that are in fact owned by (or demonstrate other obvious conflict of interest connections with) prominent civil servants or politicians, often without any declaration of such direct or indirect ownership…Amongst government officials and those who participate in the bidding process, financial benefits seem to overshadow issues of ethics and integrity in the procurement process… Many service providers and suppliers are organized in informal “cartels” that are both powerful and difficult to dislodge and those outside the cartels are more preoccupied with finding ways of getting inside so that they too can financially benefit, rather than exposing manipulation and unethical practices of such cartels”

2008

The Grand Coalition government is set up after the post-election violence. Ms Waiguru is a consultant on governance in the Treasury. In 2009, Uhuru Kenyatta replaces Amos Kimunya as Minister for Finance and implements the Economic Stimulus Package, which was aimed at cushioning Kenya from the effects of the global economic crisis. Ms Waiguru is appointed coordinator.

Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, then the Finance minister, chats with Government Chief Whip George Thuo (now deceased) and Ms Anne Waiguru, then head of the Government Unit, Economic Affairs at the Treasury, shortly before a meeting on the Sh22 billion stimulus package awarded to the constituencies on August 3, 2009. FILE PHOTO | PETERSON GITHAIGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

2011

Ms Waiguru is head of governance at the Treasury and the director of Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). She is recognised by Business Daily as one of Kenya's top 40 women under 40 the same year, and the only one from the public sector. Published interviews and documents from State House show that she left government for Citi Group, where she was an assistant vice-president and senior public sector manager, even if no specific dates are published.

2013

After Uhuru Kenyatta becomes President-elect in April 2013, Ms Waiguru joins his transition team in advance of his swearing-in, together with Njee Muturi and Bruce Odhiambo.

She is nominated Cabinet secretary for Devolution and Planning in April 2013. During her successful vetting by Parliament she defends herself against accusations of keenness to centralise power, saying she is out to facilitate devolution and is a “reformer, not a conservative”.

One of Ms Waiguru’s first projects is the implementation of the Huduma Centres, which aim to streamline the delivery of services such as driver license renewals, certificates of good conduct and issuance of business licences. Huduma Centres are well received across the country.

President Uhuru Kenyatta (Left) and his Deputy William Ruto ask Ms Ann Waiguru (centre) to address the nation after she was announced as the nominee for Devolution and Planning Cabinet secretary at State House in Nairobi on April 25, 2013. PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI | NATION

2014

In March 2014, Gor Semelang'o is dismissed as chairman of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and is replaced with Bruce Odhiambo via a Gazette notice signed by President Kenyatta.

In May 2014, Kiplimo Rugut is dismissed as the director of the National Youth Service, which is under her ministry, and replaced with Nelson Githinji, a former State House comptroller and Coca-Cola executive. Ms Waiguru insists the government “needed to change the situation", but many people interviewed at the NYS cast doubt on the claim, saying no complaints had been received about Mr Rugut's performance beforehand.

Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru together with Devolution and Planning Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti and National Youth Service Director-General Jasper Rugut at the National Youth Service Headquarters in Nairobi when she visited the agency on May 7, 2014. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

In May 2014, Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi files a motion to impeach Ms Waiguru, citing the dismissal of both Mr Rugut and Mr Semelang'o. It fails after he opts not to back it in Parliament, and later says President Kenyatta prevailed upon him not to proceed. The same month, Ms Waiguru unveils a five-point vision for the National Youth Service, which anticipates the recruitment of 20,000 recruits every year, up from 2,000. The plan anticipates that by December 2016, 54,700 youths would have been trained.

Budgetary allocation for the NYS rises spectacularly, from Sh7 billion in 2013/2014 to Sh11.5 billion in 2014/2015 and Sh25 billion in 2015/2016, a 250 per cent rise over the three budget years. The National Youth Service begins clean-up and road-building activities in Nairobi, starting with Kibera.

Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru flags off an earth mover as she commissions the construction of Kibera's Darajani Road, which connects Makina and Highrise, by the National Youth Service on September 25, 2014. PHOTO | ERIC BOSIRE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

In May 2014, the Devolution CS defends the government in the media from allegations that the government is being untruthful about the wage bill, bringing her into public disagreement with her erstwhile colleague and Saturday Nation columnist David Ndii. In December the CS also writes to express outrage at the incidents of women being stripped in Nairobi.

2015

On April 9, 2015, Ms Waiguru defends the progress of devolution and urges continued support as political conflicts and challenges in county financial management erupt across the country. Later the same month, in the wake of the Garissa University College terrorist attack that killed 148 students on April 2, 2015, Ms Waiguru rejects a proposal by governors that would have seen security devolved, with the administration police coming under the command of governors, at a devolution conference in Kisumu.

In May 2015, the Huduma Centres, created under the auspices of the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, are honoured by the United Nations for improving services, after being recognised by the Africa Association of Public Administration and Management.

On June 18, 2015, Ms Waiguru tells a press conference that she had written to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over attempts to steal Sh826 million from the National Youth Service, using the IFMIS financial system, but that the attempt had been detected before any money could be lost. Later investigations show that NYS Deputy Director Adan Harakhe claimed his password had been stolen.

On August 28, 2015, Ms Waiguru writes an article commemorating 30 years after the third World Women's Conference was hosted in Nairobi.

On October 6, 2015, Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter submits a motion to impeach Ms Waiguru. Two weeks later, it is rejected by the Speaker after 14 MPs withdraw their support. Mr Keter resubmits the motion, saying he has gained the support of additional Members of Parliament.

In November 2015, Ms Waiguru is interviewed by detectives of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission over the loss of Sh791 million, and she denies any wrongdoing. She resigns her Cabinet position later the same month, citing ill-health and decrying social media attacks on her family.   

On December 2015, Ms Waiguru's home is searched by detectives of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

2016

On January 9, 2016, Ms Waiguru replies to an article by David Ndii on the implications of corruption on Kenya's competitiveness with Tanzania.

On February 15, 2016, Ms Waiguru makes public her intention to vie for the post of Nairobi governor. On the same day, businesswoman Josephine Kabura, who is charged with fraud over the loss of NYS funds, files an affidavit that claims the former Cabinet secretary knew about the corrupt dealings at the National Youth Service and was a key facilitator.

On February 23, 2016, Ms Waiguru files an affidavit that disowns Ms Kabura, and alleges that allies of the Deputy President and senior NYS officials are involved.

On March 1, 2016, Ms Waiguru requests police protection, claiming her life is in danger.

Editor's Note: This article was updated on March 12, 2016.