The hospital’s long-serving COO swaps roles with Baraka Kerich, who moves into operations after nearly eight years leading finance.
Edwin Onchari has taken over as CFO of Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, succeeding Baraka Kerich, who has moved into the COO role Edwin held for eight years.
The appointment marks a return to finance for Edwin, who first served as the hospital’s CFO between August 2017 and September 2018 before moving into operations. He brings more than two decades of experience in audit and finance, much of it in the healthcare sector.
Before joining Gertrude’s, he was head of finance at Shelys Pharmaceutical and earlier served as chief accountant at Beta Healthcare International. He began his career at Deloitte East Africa in 2005, spending more than five years in audit and rising to audit senior.
Edwin is a certified public accountant (CPA). He holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University and a BA in economics from the University of Nairobi.
Into operations
Baraka took up the COO role in September 2026 after nearly eight years as CFO. He now leads operations across the hospital’s hub-and-spoke network, with responsibility for patient access and experience along with marketing and brand.
His remit also covers risk management and emergency preparedness, as well as growth of the satellite clinic network.
Baraka joined Gertrude’s in April 2015 as head of internal audit and was promoted to chief accountant in October 2016. He became CFO two years later, a role in which his portfolio extended beyond finance to ICT and procurement. He also oversaw the hospital’s biomedical engineering and construction projects.
He previously spent nearly three years at Deloitte & Touche East Africa, where he rose from associate to audit senior on engagements in banking and insurance.
Baraka is a certified public accountant (CPA-K) and a certified professional in healthcare quality (CPHQ). He holds an MSc in finance from the University of Nairobi and a BSc in actuarial science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
