He was burly and very tall and therefore difficult to miss. He could be seen heavily laden with pharmaceutical supplied moving from one chemist shop to another hawking his wares. Obviously he was not accustomed to the humidity and heat of the coastal city because he could be frequently seen wiping sweat from his face, quiet often removing his spectacles to do so.
Dr Chris Murungaru
Many of the pharmacists who out of sympathy gave him a few orders here and there were shocked when just a few months later that same man was named to one of the most powerful cabinet dockets in the brand new National Rainbow Coalition government of President Mwai Kibaki. The “hawker” became the minister in-charge of Internal security and was even captured in the media inspecting a guard of honor at one time.
That man’s name is of course Chris Murungaru. A man who will go down in the history of
Now that man who is no longer the legislator representing the good people of Kieni burst into the news again this week. Apparently he is trying to serve summons to former ethics PS John Githongo in a 2006 defamation suit that has never gotten off the ground because efforts to serve Githongo have always failed. On 22 January, John Githongo named Murungaru as one of three top politicians involved in scams worth $600M in what is referred to now as the Anglo Leasing scum. The other two Githingo named were Kiraitu Murungi, former justice minister and present energy minister; and former finance minister (now out of parliament) David Mwiraria.
But to observers the really fascinating thing about Dr Chris Murungaru’s latest antics this past week is the boldness with which he has attracted attention to himself. Those who know him well say that the pharmacist has always been a gambler in life. But even so this latest gamble must surely beat all the previous ones. To start with the man has failed to read the mood in the country at the moment. Then he has drawn battle lines even before anybody has mentioned his name, meaning that he has forced the hand of those who must have some very damaging evidence against him. More than anything else Murungaru’s latest move illustrates just how high the stakes must be.
Admittedly Murungaru is a survivor and is obviously prepared for a long drawn out battle here. Many wrote him off when on February 17, 2006, the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACA) took Dr. Murungaru to a Nairobi court charging him with failing to declare and account for his wealth. The Commission’s view was that Dr. Murungaru became too waealthy too quickly and had been investigating the source of his wealth, especially in relation to the Anglo Leasing Scandal. He denied refusing to declare his wealth, and was released on a bond of Kshs 200,000 after an embarrassing wait right next to the stinking police cells at the
Let us for a moment put ourselves in the shoes of the good doctor. What would you do if you knew that your time for being exposed was nigh? Would you just sit quietly and wait for what was coming to you? That is quite unlikely and not Murungaru at all.
Most probably you would come out both guns drawn and firing. That may mean that Murungaru is going to use the information he has to cause “leaks” of various scandals involving numerous characters right across the political divide. This is what is causing so much fear amongst the political elite. It is the inevitable chain reaction from all this.
Indeed the minute Githongo landed at JKIA, it is like somebody dropped some highly volatile compound into some simmering acid.
Some of the “leaks” that we should expect will involve top notch personalities within ODM. All in all I can authoritatively tell you that quite a number of Kenyans are not having a good weekend at all.
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