Kiraitu Murungi (born 1 January 1952) is a Commissioner at the Kenya Law Reform Commission and the former governor of Meru County in Kenya. He is a former long-serving member of parliament for South Imenti constituency (1992-2013), former cabinet minister, and former senator for Meru County.

Education

Kiraitu Murungi was born on 1 January 1952 in Kionyo village, Abogeta division of Meru District in Eastern Kenya to Daniel M’Mwarania and Anjelika Kiajia. He attended Kionyo primary school after which he joined Chuka High School before proceeding to Alliance High School. Murungi graduated with a Bachelor of Law from the University of Nairobi in 1977 and attained a Master of Law in the same university in 1982. In 1991 he attained another Master of Law from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

when he was in exile for two years in the United States during Daniel arap Moi's one-party dictatorship period.

Law career

Murungi was a partner in a law firm he founded with

Gibson Kamau Kuria Gibson Kamau Kuria (born 3 March 1947 in Mahiga Location, Othaya Division, Nyeri District) is a Kenyan lawyer and a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for 1988. Early education Kuria started his formal education at Mahig ...

and

Aaron Ringera Aaron Gitonga Ringera (born 20 June 1950) is a Kenyan lawyer who served as a judge and as the former director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC). He was born in Githongo, Meru. Education and early career Ringera has a Master's (LL ...

, where he practised law for ten years. His biggest case during this period was representing political prisoners of the Moi government including

Wanyiri Kihoro Local elections were held in Nairobi County to elect a Governor and County Assembly on 4 March 2013. Under the new Constitution of Kenya, constitution, which was passed in a 2010 Kenyan constitutional referendum, 2010 referendum, the 2013 Kenyan ...

against the government itself. A case that is covered in Wanyiri Kihoro's book ''Never Say Die: The Chronicle of a Political Prisoner'' and resulted in the detention of Kuria in an attempt to cause the abandonment of the case, as well as a period in exile in various western countries for both Mr. Murungi and Mr. Kuria.

Political career

Upon his return from exile, Kiraitu joined the struggle for multi-party democracy in 1990 as one of Kenya's "Young Turks." Murungi joined the newly formed Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) following Kenya's return to multi-party politics in 1991. He was elected to parliament on the FORD ticket during the first multi-party election in 1992, serving as Member of parliament for South Imenti Constituency, Meru. Kiraitu decamped from FORD to Democratic Party (DP) when FORD splintered in the aftermath of the demise of its leader, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, retaining the South Imenti seat during the 1997 general elections. As an opposition member of parliament between 1991 and 2002, Kiraitu served as the shadow Attorney-General and member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Anti-Corruption. Murungi has been a member of parliament since 1992 and has formerly served as minister of justice and Constitutional Affairs and as the shadow

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. In the 2002 Kenya General Elections he won the

South Imenti Constituency South Imenti is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of nine constituencies of Meru County Meru County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, located in the former Eastern Province. The county lies between 0° 6′ North and 0° 1′ Sou ...

MP seat for the

National Rainbow Coalition The National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) is a political party in Kenya. As an alliance, it was in power from 2002 and 2005 when it collapsed due to disagreements between members over a constitutional referendum. Formation In preparation of the 2002 ...

(NARC) party. After the Government's defeat in the 21 November 2005 constitutional referendum, he was appointed Minister of Energy. He was then re-elected as a member of parliament under a Party of National Unity (PNU) ticket in the 2007 elections. On 8 August 2017, he was elected the governor of Meru County under a Jubilee ticket, defeating the Incumbent Peter Munya and effectively becoming the second governor of the county since its inception. Prior to being the Governor Kiraitu served as the Senator for Meru County after winning the seat under the Alliance Party of Kenya (APK) ticket in the 2013 elections.

Scandals and Controversies

In February 2005, Murungi apologised for making a remark which was criticised as trivialising both rape and corruption. He had said that criticism from aid donors of corruption in Kenya was "like raping a woman who is already willing". He is one of the closest allies of former Kenyan President

Mwai Kibaki Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki (15 November 1931 – 21 April 2022) was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013 and is regarded as one of Kenya's founding fathers. He had previously ser ...

. He has been accused of attempting to cover-up in the Anglo Leasing Scandal, which he once claimed that it was a "scandal that never was". On 8 February 2006, the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

aired a conversation between Murungi and former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo where he appears to be coercing Githongo to drop his investigations on the Anglo Leasing Scandal. He had promised that Anura Pereira would forgive a debt of KES 30 million owed by Githongo's father. Murungi initially maintained that he would not resign from his cabinet post despite the allegations of corruption. He claimed that he was innocent and that Githongo's reports are mere propaganda. On the recording, he has commented: "I have listened to the alleged tape recorded evidence. It is truncated, inaudible, insufficient and inadmissible to form any credible proof of the allegations being orchestrated by Mr Githongo". On 13 February 2006, however, President

announced that Murungi had resigned to allow full investigation into the allegations. On 14 February 2006, a day after his resignation, Murungi has claimed that he played no role at all to cover-up the Anglo Leasing Scandal. He blamed his woes on the politics of

(NARC) and the media. However, it later emerged that President

had asked him to resign from the government. On 10 February 2006, Murungi issued a statement that was faxed to all Kenyan media houses questioning the intentions and motives of John Githongo, in the form of 36 questions. Among the questions he asked is why John Githongo was recording his conversations with government officials and whether he was a spy for foreign nations. On 15 November 2006 he was reinstated as Energy Minister by Kibaki. He remained in that Cabinet position appointed by Kibaki until 8 January 2008, following the controversial December 2007 election."Kenya: Kibaki Names Cabinet"
''The East African Standard'' (allAfrica.com), 8 January 2008.

References

External links