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Patrick Njoroge

Former Governor, Central Bank of Kenya

Search every verified Patrick Njoroge interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Patrick Njoroge, former Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, has recently participated in public discussions reflecting on his tenure and the evolution of Kenya's financial sector. In a September 2026 seminar at the Pardee Center, he discussed M-Pesa's transition from a pioneering fintech innovation to a dominant market player, stating that the company has "generally used their position to keep other payment service providers sort of at bay" and has become important to the government due to the dividends it receives. He also recounted the early regulatory approach to mobile money, noting that the novelty of the technology meant regulators chose to "work with the innovator" rather than immediately draft legislation. In August 2026 interviews, Njoroge reflected on his eight-year term as central bank governor, describing the challenges of shutting down three banks in quick succession and enforcing compliance with banking rules. He characterized the 2016 imposition of interest rate caps by Parliament as a "gift" that proved detrimental to the economy through credit rationing. He also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic as the largest shock during his tenure, which accelerated the shift to digital transactions, and mentioned a five-year effort to enable digital purchases of Treasury bills and bonds, which launched shortly after he left office.

Recent appearances

Notable quotes

“So, the issue wasn't a failure of laws. It was just that this was very new. And so, you have a choice to wait until you put together a law, but you also don't know what you're regulating. How can you put together law that you don't know what you're dealing with? So in some sense it was so new that it was okay fine let's just watch let's work with the innovator and see how best to regulate this thing but it required t”

“The point is that they have generally used their position to keep other payment service providers sort of at bay. And in a sense they have not encouraged, well they don't need to encourage, but they have worked, they haven't provided the right connections for all this on a timely basis. So it's timeliness we are talking about, but I think also they have ended up being very important to government because of the divid”

“And we also had the problems that were becoming evident in some of the banks and a lot of forbearance before that and basically, you know, we had to deal with three banks in quick succession. It was necessary to shut them down. And really insist on what the rules were and that they follow the rules.”

“On September 14, 2016, if you remember that is the 50th anniversary of the Central Bank. On that very day we got a gift from Parliament which was interest rate caps were imposed. And I call it a gift because it's something like, you know, you you think of a rabbit but then you end up getting a skunk. So this is more of a skunk. We continued to communicate and explain how that will be so will be detrimental to the eco”

“The idea was simple. Which is we everybody in Kenya does things on their digital devices. We should be able to do it on our digital devices. We should be able to buy T-bills on our digital devices. So, the idea was simple and say, 'Okay, fine.' So, we embarked on it, but it took us 5 years. 5 years. Why? Because we did not want to cut corners. But at the end of it, it was launched just after I left. Anybody, anywhere”

“On September 14, 2016, if you remember, that is the 50th anniversary of the Central Bank. On that very day, we got a gift from Parliament, which was interest rate caps were imposed. And I call it a gift because it's something like, you know, you think of a rabbit, but then you end up getting a skunk. So, this was more of a skunk. We continued to communicate and explain how that will be so detrimental to the economy i”

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