Philip Kinisu: The Billionaire Who Made History As The Shortest Serving Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission Boss
By Prudence Minayo
Philip Kinisu has worked in top managerial positions for decades. He has been referred to by multiple media outlets as a silent billionaire and rightly so. He has served in various positions including as the Chief Executive Officer at PwC and as the chairman of the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC).
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Education
The billionaire graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Finance from the University of Nairobi and a Master of Business Administration in Sustainability Studies from the University of Cumbria.
Career
He joined Deloitte, UK as an Audit trainee from August 1979 to April 1982. Afterwards, he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 1990 as a partner. In July 2006, he was made Territory Senior Partner and CEO at the company. As the CEO of PwC, he headed operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mauritius, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Angola. He was made chairman of PwC African Governance board in June 2012-June 2014.
From 2014, he has served as the chairman of Kosa Investments Limited and in 2017 he started working as a Business Management Consultant.
Mr. Kinisu was sworn in as the chairman of the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission on 19th January 2016.
NYS Saga
On July 17th, 2016, it was reported that Esaki Limited, a company which is affiliated to him was paid Sh35 million for the supply of a number of items to the National Youth Service between October 2014 and November 2015. This led to a conflict of interest since EACC was investigating the NYS scandal that involved the loss of millions of Kenyan Shillings.
On 16th August 2016, the National Assembly received a petition calling for Mr. Kinisu’s sacking over his company’s dealings with the NYS. On 25th August the same year, he appeared before the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee due to the company’s dealings with NYS. On 30th, Members of Parliament tabled a report recommending that president Uhuru Kenyatta suspend Mr. Kinisu and appoint a tribunal to investigate him. He resigned the following day making him the shortest serving chairman of EACC.
While announcing his resignation, Philip Kinisu said it was impractical to continue serving as chair because of the expansive coverage of the dealings between his firm and NYS. He maintained his innocence and stated that he was resigning in order to save the country resources and attention being spent on the allegations at the expense of fighting corruption.
“To ensure that due attention is paid to the fight against corruption, I have today tendered to the President my resignation as chairman of EACC. By this measure, I believe that EACC will henceforth be able to focus on carrying out its mandate,” he said in his statement.
