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 The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a collegiate research university based in Nairobi. It is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent univer ...

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 when he was in exile for two years in the United States during

Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He was the country's longest-serving president. Moi previously served as the third vice ...

's one-party dictatorship period.

Law career

Murungi was a partner in a law firm he founded with Gibson Kamau Kuria and Aaron Ringera, where he practised law for ten years. His biggest case during this period was representing political prisoners of the Moi government including Wanyiri Kihoro 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 Forum for the Restoration of Democracy was a political party and a movement against the one-party system in Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 ...

(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 Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga (October 1911 – 20 January 1994) was a Luo chieftain who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence. He later served as Kenya's first Vice-President, and thereafter as opposition leader. Oding ...

, 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 the 2002 Kenya General Elections he won the South Imenti Constituency MP seat for the National Rainbow Coalition (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 A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

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. He has been accused of attempting to cover-up in the

Anglo Leasing Scandal The Anglo Leasing scandal was a government procurement facilitated corruption scandal in Kenya. Origins The scandal is alleged to have started when the Kenyan Government wanted to replace its passport printing system, in 1997, but came to light ...

, which he once claimed that it was a "scandal that never was". On 8 February 2006, the BBC World Service aired a conversation between Murungi and former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary

John Githongo John Githongo (born 1965) is a former Kenyan journalist who investigated bribery and fraud in his home country (Kenya) and later, under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, took on an official governmental position to fight corruption. In 2005 he lef ...

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 Mwai Kibaki 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

. He blamed his woes on the politics of National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) and the media. However, it later emerged that President Mwai Kibaki 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

, in the form of 36 questions. Among the questions he asked is why

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