Githu Muigai: I regret nothing

He speaks the Queen’s English and is known for his sharp style of dressing. His conviction to what he did for seven years is that he did right and changed lives in his own way.

Some call him the mortician, thanks to a quote he made on the Anglo Leasing saga.

“The man you see before you is a mortician. The patient died on the operating table long time ago. Githu Muigai is the mortician. If you think the patient should have lived, ask the surgeons,” he said at the height of a debate in 2014 over whether Kenya was right to pay decrees obtained by the Anglo Leasing firms in a bid to float its Euro Bond.

In an exclusive interview with Sunday Standard, Prof Githu Muigai says when he was appointed into the office of Attorney General, he wanted things to move fast.

Challenging role

Overtime, he learnt that change can be gradual if not slow. His hallmark at the AG was to transition the country from the old Constitution to the 2010 one, he says.

It was a challenging journey, one dogged by a myriad of cases in and out of the courts, and legislations to Parliament to effect the new Constitution.

“The team I worked with for seven years was able to transition Kenya from the old constitution to the new one. There were many teething problems around the implementation of the new constitution but the transition was reasonably smooth,” he says.

In his tenure, the State Law Office effectively represented Kenya in its courts and in international tribunals and laid a foundation for business sector reforms, he says.

“I am also proud that we did some outstanding law reform initiatives especially in the companies laws and others surrounding the ease of doing business. Kenya has remarkably improved her position on the ease of doing business. The legal framework was developed during that period. I am proud of it,” he says.

His inspiration to serve as a lawyer was influenced by Kenya’s first black lawyers in the 60s. Among them was University of Bombay educated Silvano Melea Otieno – who was popularly known as SM Otieno.

“When I was in junior high school, I always wanted to be a lawyer. I had seen the first crop of African lawyers and was so impressed with what they were doing, I couldn’t wait to finish high school,” he says.

His journey to become Kenya’s AG started at the Shankardass House, now known as Nairobi Cinema. He fondly muses over meeting his partner in Mohamed Muigai Advocates at the corridors of the building 30 years ago and asking to rent from him an office to operate in.

Landlord Mohammed Nyaoga, as Githu refers to his partner, did not object to the idea. The office had only one rickety seat. The two young lawyers shared legal fees but ran separate law firms - Nyaoga on his own and Muigai by himself.

They hired Leonard Kitwai, an ex-matatu driver as their messenger. He works with the firm to date. The law firm would then shift to Vienna Café and subsequently to K-Rep Building where it is still based today.

Githu’s entry into state matters was at an awkward time. He was appointed during Kenya’s tumultuous post-election violence time which pitted former President Mwai Kibaki against Raila Odinga. He says the transition from the private sector to work for government was his first challenge.

“One of the difficult challenges for an outsider who comes to work for the government is to realise that the ship of state is like a battle ship. It turns slowly and you have to be patient with it. I learnt that you need to be patient with reforms and changes and you need to create a consensus around that,” he said.

He also intimated of limited resources, and attracting and retaining good lawyers at his office. “The competition in legal market is not in government,” he says.

Githu says he has no regrets from his time at the helm of the State Law Office.

“The good times and the successes we had outweighed the very challenges,” he says.

At the time of his appointment, former International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Loius Moreno Ocampo was baying for the blood of suspects in the 2007-08 post-election violence.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, then a Deputy Prime Minister, his deputy William Ruto who was an MP, the then head of Public Service Francis Muthaura, former police boss Hussein Ali, then Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and radio journalist Joshua Sang were on Ocampo’s list.

Githu found himself right in the middle of it, having to deal with the dicey issue of maintaining Kenya’s sovereignty and solving legal challenges that came with the case, including co-operation with the court by the President and his deputy.

Frozen out

“The ICC cases presented an existential threat to the Republic of Kenya and its future. I felt then as I do now that had Kenya as a sovereign state not taken the position that we took, we would have exposed our country and its future to very serious peril,” he says.

Towards the end of his tenure, it was widely believed he had been frozen out of all government dealings. Githu disputes this, saying his leaving government was mutual.

“It was a very amicable decision. In these kind of positions, five years should be enough because then you run out of ideas and energy. The President was very kind to allow me to leave and supporting me in other appointments,” he says.

After years in the high profile job, Githu says he is training his eyes on academia and wants to get back to his lecturing job at the University of Nairobi.

jmuthoni@standardmedia.co.ke