Reporter
Presidents are supposed to be very busy people; which is why they cannot have time for every Tom, Dick and window-licking Harry.
You cannot just go to State House and ask to see the president just because you attended the same school – or Church.
That’s why a president needs someone tough, meticulous and organized to ensure that their minutes are well spent.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had that man in Joseph Kinyua.
There can be only one Joseph Kinyua, the career Civil Servant who was the boss of all staff at State House from 2013 to 2022.
That one man
In life there is always that one person you need around – to make your life smooth.
Kinyua was that man for President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Those who have worked him have described Kinyua as a workaholic and incorruptible human being.
In his previous work at the Treasury – where he worked with President Uhuru Kenyatta who was then the Treasury Minister – he would arrive at work sometimes at 4am.
Kinyua began his career in 1978 as an assistant lecturer at the University of Nairobi. He joined the Central Bank of Kenya in 1980 as an economist.
He also worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1985 to 1990 before returning to the CBK.
He was in 2003 appointment Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Planning and National Development, and was Uhuru’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
It was Kinyua who oversaw the transition of power from Uhuru to President Uhuru Kenyatta.