JOHN GITHONGO - “ENEMY OF THE STATE?”

“Standing well over six feet tall, he had girth as well as height, the fifty-eight-inch chest and massive shoulders of the gym habitué,
the V-shaped silhouette of a comic-book superhero,” is Michela Wrong’s well-deserving depiction of John Githongo. He is a man we all know so well. He is abhorrent to some, loved by many, and, perhaps, misunderstood by all. He is married.

Is Githongo the Enemy of The State?

Born in 1965, he is well known to many as the man who revealed a damning recording of government officials conniving how to fleece the nation. Under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, he took on an official governmental position to fight corruption. In 2005, he left that position, accusing top ministers of large-scale fraud. All this culminated in Michela Wrong's explosive book; It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower.

Early Life

At one time, John was a bricklayer. During his school holidays, he would engage in mjengo (casual labourer at a construction site) just to keep himself busy. He was bored of his filing job at his father Joe Githongo’s office. At one point, perhaps in his quest to find himself, he also became a police reservist.

John schooled at Nairobi’s St. Mary’s School. He also holds a degree in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Wales further than that; he has an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University. Before he moved to journalism, he was briefly a management consultant and researcher.

His articles were published extensively in the Nation Media Group’s East African newspaper. He also wrote for Executive magazine. His main line of attack was corruption in the Kenyan society during the Moi regime. His journalistic prowess also saw him write for The Economist and a host of other local and international press organisations.

In the 90s, he came in third in the prestigious CNN African Journalist of the year award. He also clinched the German-Afrika Prize for Leadership in 2004. In addition, he was mentioned in New African magazine as one of the 100 most influential Africans. He was among the top 100 global thinkers according to the Foreign Policy magazine. In 2012 he was short-listed, alongside US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton for the prestigious Tipperary International Peace Award.

Currently, John Githongo is the CEO of Inuka Trust, an organisation involved in governance issues broadly defined, with an emphasis, on working with and for ordinary Kenyans – in particular the youth. Inuka states its pillars as Heshima (respect), Diversity (celebrating the depth and wealth of Kenya’s cultural diversity) and Ni Sisi! (It is us!). The organisation believes that Kenyans will ultimately resolve even the most seemingly intractable of their problems if they take ownership of them.

Anglo-Leasing Scandal

His stint as the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President in charge of Governance and Ethics left a mark as the only public officer known to have publicly shunned corruption and walking away. The aftershocks of Ango-leasing still cause many ripples among today’s leadership.

Upon his employment, Mwai Kibaki of the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition had just won the December 2002 elections through a rare show of unity in the opposition. Their pedestal was anti-corruption.

However, on February 7 2005, his surprise resignation while in self-exile came. He had previously shown discontent with the government’s commitment to ending corruption. He had also received death threats. Upon the resignation, international aid to Kenya was cut.

Close to a year later, he revealed the bombshell and named Vice-President Moody Awori, Kiraitu Murungi, David Mwiraria and Chris Murungaru having been involved in scams worth $600m in the Anglo Leasing scandal. He also claimed that President Kibaki was complicit in the affair. The scandal centered on the award of a huge contract given to Anglo-Leasing – a fictitious company. Githongo claimed that the money raised would have funded the government's forthcoming election campaign. Awori and Murungaru denied and an investigation was promised.

Went to Exile

Githongo moved to the UK to live in exile after claiming that there have been threats to his life. In a secret cable from the US ambassador in Kenya to Washington dated the 16/9/09, released by Wikileaks, made clear the extent of these threats. In one section the ambassador wrote -"Paragraph 5 provides details of statements made by Ringera (former head of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission) to Githongo that Githongo took as direct threats to his life by the Kenyan political elite, to include Ringera. This TD corroborates Githongo’s conclusion about Ringera who had been identified to have met in a room with leading Kikuyu politicians, including government ministers, plotting to kill Githongo in 2009.
The conclusion one can draw from this report, combined with Githongo’s testimony, is that Ringera was part of those within the Kenyan political elite seeking to suppress information and those with information that could assist in punishing and minimizing corruption in Kenya."
On 8 February 2006 in an interview with Fergal Keane for the BBC's Newsnight, Githongo revealed what he claimed was taped evidence; proof that Kiraitu Murungi attempted to impede his inquiries. Murungi suggested to influence a 30M Kenyan Shilling loan to his father by a lawyer A.H. Malik had been bought by Anura Pereira, and might be forgiven in exchange for 'going slow' on the Anglo Leasing investigation.

He reveals that at the end of his investigations, he came to the inescapable conclusion that the Anglo Leasing scandal went all the way to the top, and most probably, his life would be in danger. Anglo Leasing, and many other similar deals, were rumoured by some people to be the back door financing for the 2007 NARC's election bid.

While in Britain, Githongo spent two days giving evidence to a delegation of Kenyan MPs who were investigating the scandal. Both parties were positive about the outcomes of the meetings.

Was John Githongo a SPY?

Throughout the saga, allegations about the sophisticated nature of the Githongo recordings and the reason and extent for the involvement of the British Embassy have been subject to much speculation.

Dr. Murungaru, the National security Minister maintains Githongo was and still is a British spy. On February 10, 2006, Murungi issued a statement faxed to all Kenyan media houses questioning the intentions and motives of John Githongo, in the form of 36 questions. Minister Murungaru was later demoted as a result of the allegations and rejected by his own constituents during the 2007 general election.

In 2006, Murungaru was banned from all travel to the United Kingdom by the British Home Secretary as a result of his involvement in corruption.

Among the questions asked was why John Githongo was recording his conversations with Government officials and asking how many other conversations he recorded including those with the president. Some who have interviewed Githongo say that in fact the President knew about had approved of Githongo's recordings as early as February 2004.

Speculation was also rife that Githongo's continued exile was directly related to the spying allegations and the fact that he broke various secrecy laws under the Official Secrets Act, that covered government officials. However, Githongo returned to Kenya in August 2008 and the government did not challenge his allegations or attempt to prosecute him under the Official Secrets Act.

Post-Exile

Githongo returned to Kenya in 2008, and founded an organization called Inuka Kenya Trust. In Jan 2011, Githongo launched a new campaign, Kenya Ni Yetu (Kenya is Ours), aimed at mobilising ordinary people to speak up against corruption, impunity and injustice. Enemy of the State?

Additional sources: Wikipedia, Wikileaks