Dr. Chris Kiptoo is the Principal Secretary, The National Treasury. He was appointed Principal Secretary by President William Samoei Ruto on 1st December 2022. Since his appointment, Dr Kiptoo has been at the forefront in implementing Fiscal consolidation, debt management including the Eurobond, expenditure rationalization , revenue mobilization as well as reform of state owned enterprises (SOEs).
Dr. Kiptoo is the immediate former Principal Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Before that, he also served as a Principal Secretary at the State Department of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Trade & Cooperatives.
In his working career, Dr. Kiptoo has acquired a rich wealth of experience in economic policy analysis, mainly gained at the Central Bank of Kenya, Capital Market Authority and the International Monetary Fund, where he has served in various capacities. His expertise especially relates to the design and implementation of monetary policy; balance of payments and exchange rates; fiscal operations and policy; financial sector matters including capital markets; national accounts/real sector and macroeconomic accounting, and modelling and forecasting.
Additionally, Dr. Kiptoo has proven experience in environment and climate change policies, trade policy and regional integration, private sector development and advocacy, infrastructure development, institutional development of Government institutions and organisational management, all mainly gained at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, State Department of Trade as well as Trade Mark East Africa.
Noteworthy, he also has four years of experience in economic policy coordination gained while working at the then Office of the Prime Minister.
Office of the Principal Secretary
The Office of Principal Secretary is provided under Article 155(1) of the Constitution. The Principal Secretary is responsible to the Cabinet Secretary, for overall strategic leadership and management of the functions of the National Treasury.
The specific functions of the Office of Principal Secretary are to:-
- Be the Accounting and Authorized Officer of the National Treasury;
- Provide policy and strategic direction to the National Treasury and strengthen institutions within the it to effectively operationalize their mandate;
- Render informed and impartial advice to the Cabinet Secretary that is consistent with the functions and responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary in order to enhance efficiency and collective responsibility;
- Oversee the preparation of Cabinet Memoranda, Sessional Papers and other policy issues emanating from the Cabinet, National Assembly, Senate or any other fora;
- Prepare responses to questions touching on the National Treasury for Cabinet Secretary to respond to the National Assembly and Senate;
- Be responsible for the efficient delivery of the public resources that have been lawfully assigned to the State Department;
- In-charge of the public resources, both human and material earmarked by the Government for utilization in specified areas to maximize benefits to the people of Kenya;
- Ensure prudent and efficient control over the utilization and management of public resources, notably funds voted for by Parliament;
- Ensure all public officers in the National Treasury demonstrate and uphold high levels of integrity and ethical conduct in accordance with guidelines on governing responsibility issued by the Government; and
- Execute policy decisions and other matters over which public accountability is placed on him.