Inside KCB’s Risk Office: Questions Over Faith Basiye’s Treatment of Rosemary Kimwatu
Kimwatu was not an obscure employee. She was a lawyer and technology policy specialist who joined KCB in 2022 from Safaricom and became Head of Data Protection in June 2023. She was also active in...
- The death of KCB’s Head of Data Protection, Rosemary Koech Kimwatu, has triggered uncomfortable questions about workplace treatment, management accountability and whether employees’ complaints were taken seriously. Faith Basiye, the bank’s Group Chief Risk Officer, has been accused in online reports of mistreating Kimwatu. The allegations remain unproven.
Kimwatu was not an obscure employee. She was a lawyer and technology policy specialist who joined KCB in 2022 from Safaricom and became Head of Data Protection in June 2023. She was also active in Kenya’s technology and data protection community through KICTANet, KeNIC and other industry organisations.
Her death on August 21 has therefore resonated well beyond KCB.
The controversy centres on allegations that she experienced difficult treatment at work and had raised concerns about her supervisor. A report published after her death says a message circulating among colleagues contained complaints allegedly sent to HR, KCB’s chief executive and Safaricom. Those claims have not been independently verified by the sources available.
That is the part KCB now needs to address. Not through reputation management, but through facts.
Were complaints made? When were they made? Who received them? Were they investigated? What did HR do? Was an independent assessment conducted? Was Kimwatu offered support? Did management know that she was experiencing difficulties?
Those questions matter regardless of what ultimately emerges about Basiye.
They matter because a bank that sells trust to the public also has to demonstrate accountability inside its own walls.
And there is an uncomfortable irony here. Basiye’s professional career has been built around forensic investigation, fraud risk, compliance and governance. KCB appointed her Group Chief Risk Officer in July 2024 after she had spent years heading its forensic function.
That makes the allegations especially sensitive.
They should not, however, be treated as proof of wrongdoing.
The appropriate next step is a properly documented, independent investigation into the workplace complaints and the circumstances surrounding Kimwatu’s death.
The question is not whether social media has already reached a verdict. It is whether KCB will establish the facts.
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