Kiraitu Murungi - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Education

Kiraitu Murungi was born on 1 January 1952 in Kionyo village, Abogeta division of Meru District in Central Kenya. He attended Chuka High School before proceeding to Alliance High School. Murungi graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in Nairobi University in 1977 and attained a Master of Law in the same university in 1982. He attained another Master in 1991 of Law at Harvard Law School where he served two years in exile in the United States at the heyday of Daniel arap Moi's one-party dictatorship.

Career in Law

Murungi was a partner in a law firm he founded together with Gibson Kamau Kuria

Gibson Kamau Kuria

Gibson Kamau Kuria is a Kenyan lawyer and a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for 1988.-Early Education:...

, where he practiced law for ten years. His biggest case during this tenure was representing political prisoners of the Moi government including Wanyiri Kihoro against the government itself. A case that is mentioned severally in Wanyiri Kihoro's book Never Say Die: The Chronicle of a Political Prisoner and resulted in the detention of Mr. Kuria in an attempt to cause the abandonment of the case, as well as a period in exile in various western countries for bothe 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 FORD ticket during the first multi-party election in 1992, serving as MP for parliament for South Imenti Constituency, Meru. Kiraitu decamped from FORD when the party splintered in the aftermath of the demise of its leader, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, retaining the South Imenti seat during the 1997 general elections. As a 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

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

. In the 2002 Kenya General Elections he won the South Imenti Constituency

South Imenti Constituency

South Imenti is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of three constituencies of Meru Central District. It has eight wards, all of which elect councillors for the Meru Central County Council. The constituency was established for the 1988 elections....

MP seat for the National Rainbow Coalition

National Rainbow Coalition

The National Rainbow Coalition was a coalition of Kenyan political parties in power from 2002 and 2005 when it fell apart in a controversy between its wings about a constitutional referendum.-Formation:...

(NARC) party. After the Government's defeat in the November 21, 2005 constitutional referendum, he was appointed Minister of Energy.

In February 2005, Murungi apologised for making a remark which was criticised as trivialising both rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

and corruption. He had said that criticism from aid donors of corruption in Kenya was "like raping a woman who is already willing".

Anglo Leasing scandal

He is one of the closest allies of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki

Mwai Kibaki

Mwai Kibaki is the current and third President of the republic of Kenya.Kibaki was previously Vice President of Kenya for ten years from 1978–1988 and also held cabinet ministerial positions, including a widely acclaimed stint as Minister for Finance , Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for...

. He has been accused of attempted cover-up in the Anglo Leasing Scandal, which he has earlier claimed that it was a "scandal that never was".

On February 8, 2006, the BBC World Service

BBC World Service

The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...

aired a conversation between Murungi and former Governance and Ethics Permanent Secretary John Githongo

John Githongo

John Githongo is a former Kenyan journalist who investigated bribery and fraud in his home country and later, under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, took on an official governmental position to fight corruption. In 2005 he left that position, later accusing top ministers of large-scale fraud...

where he appears to be coercing Githongo to drop his investigations on the Anglo Leasing Scandal. He had promised that Anura Pereira

Anura Pereira

Anura Pereira is a Sri Lankan with Cypriot origins, frequently mentioned in association with Corruption in Kenya-History:He came to Kenya in the 1980s and was a defence contractor during the KANU regime.-Controversy:...

would forgive a debt of KES 30 million owed by Githongo's father.

Murungi initially maintained that he would not resign 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

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 Anglo Leasing Scandal. He has blamed his woes on the politics of National Rainbow Coalition

National Rainbow Coalition

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

Mwai Kibaki

had asked him to resign from the Government.

On 15 November 2006 he was reinstated as Energy Minister by Kibaki. He remained in that position in the Cabinet appointed by Kibaki on January 8, 2008, following the controversial December 2007 election

Kenyan presidential election, 2007

A presidential election was held as part of the Kenyan general election on December 27, 2007; parliamentary elections were held on the same date. Incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner and sworn in on December 30, despite opposition leader Raila Odinga's claims of victory...

Parliamentary Accounts Committee investigation

On February 10, 2006, Murungi issued a statement that was faxed to all Kenyan media houses questioning the intentions and motives of John Githongo

John Githongo

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

John Githongo

was recording his conversations with Government officials and whether he was a spy for foreign nations.

External links

http://www.parliament.go.ke/MPs/members_murungi_k.php
Government Curriculum Vitae

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