With his assets frozen, it will be unseasonably cold for career treasurer

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Nairobi City hall Chief Finance officer Jimmy Mutuku Kiamba. PHOTO | FILE 

By KIARIE NJOROGE

In Summary

• Those who know Mr Kiamba says he is a man who treads carefully and is not one to ruffle too many feathers.

Perhaps few in Jimmy Kiamba’s rural Machakos school could have imagined he would one day rise to be in charge of the capital city’s purse strings.

City Hall’s suspended chief financial officer —who is accused of living in opulence on a modest monthly salary of Sh85,000 — can be said to have pulled off a small miracle in rising from a seemingly average high school student to graduate with a First Class honours degree that placed him firmly on the path to a career in finance.

Mr Kiamba scored a C Plus in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination at Mumbuni High School in 1992.

Several years later, he walked out of the United State International University – Africa with a Bachelor’s degree (First Class) in Science (Business Administration).

This latter sterling academic achievement will, however, be of little comfort in the coming months as he faces the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in court to defend himself against corruption charges – an arguably stiffer test.

The corruption watchdog reckons that Mr Kiamba lives too large for the pay cheque the city issues him at the end of every month, and is seeking the court’s authority to investigate his vast estate.

Those who know Mr Kiamba says he is a man who treads carefully and is not one to ruffle too many feathers. At City Hall where he controlled a multibillion-shilling budget, he remains a fairly well-spoken of individual but there is a hint of mystery around him.

A county officer who declined to speak on the record describes the CFO as the “best of the bunch” that was suspended in the wake of corruption investigations.

“If City Hall employees were given the opportunity to choose who should be reinstated, then Kiamba would be back,” he said.

“He doesn’t seek popularity but he has a charm that coupled with his office makes him a person you want to know.”

But not all employees are as flattering. Some workmates describe Mr Kiamba as a charmer with an easy smile but harder to figure out and deal with for those not close to him.

“Unpredictable” is one of the words that was used to describe the curiously enigmatic bean counter.

Members of the county Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which regularly has to meet the CFO over the county’s accounts, have previously expressed their frustration at having to cajole Mr Kiamba severally before he provides them with the required documents for scrutiny.

And when he comes under a barrage of questions at committee sessions, he rarely loses his cool demeanour, instead relying on his 15 years’ experience in public finance to navigate the sittings that are often replete with allegations of impropriety against his office and department.

Considering the allegations the EACC has made against him, Mr Kiamba is certainly swimming in unfamiliar waters. His MBA thesis, titled "The effect of corporate governance on financial performance of local authorities in Kenya", which he wrote at the University of Nairobi represents Mr Kiamba’s belief in professional management of public finances – a conviction that is bound to come under thorough scrutiny in the wake of the anti-graft body’s claims.