At a time when the Nairobi Stock Exchange badly needs a change of guard, Mr James Wangunyu has taken over its chairmanship.

Despite hugely boosting market capitalisation, former chairman Jimnah Mbaru leaves an institution whose image is in tatters.

True, the bourse has become an effective vehicle for raising capital. But Kenyans increasingly feel insecure, while investing at the NSE.

Two brokers have collapsed during Mr Mbaru's tenure at the helm, a situation that must be avoided at all costs in the future.

The new NSE boss has the Herculean task of returning self-regulation to the bourse. A situation where investors have to wait for the slow-moving wheels of justice to work has to be avoided if capital markets are to continue powering economic growth.

As it were, in the cases of Uchumi Supermarkets and Nyaga Stockbrokers debacles, NSE seemed to sit helplessly as they waited for the authorities to take action.

Hopefully, as the NSE moves to demutualise or open up its membership, the situation will change significantly. But before that, Mr Wangunyu has the onerous task of changing the way things are done.

Last year, by opposing the Safaricom initial public offering, which now threatens to unravel into a scandal over the true identities of the so-called foreign investors, he showed promising signs.

We hope to see more of that spirit as he goes about reversing NSE's flagging fortunes. Never again should market confidence be allowed to slip to the current doldrums.