Life and times of Kenya's longest serving AG

By Oscar Obonyo

"Excuse me, do I know you? Have we met before? Please remind me your name... and do you still work for The Standard?" A mean-looking Attorney General, Amos Wako, bombarded me with questions as I entered his office.

Having known him for years and interviewed him many times, I thought he was feigning an excuse to decline the scheduled interview.

For a moment I stood by the door side, mute and baffled. Then his characteristic smile formed on his face and he burst into a prolonged, hearty laughter.

I could not help but join the mirth on realising the AG was only acting.

"That is how our conversation will progress in our next encounter when you visit Mzee Wako at his Nan’goma village in Busia County. As you can see, time is up and I am finally off to the village," he chuckles away. Indeed, there have been whispers from his rural home that Wako is angling for the position of senator – a matter that the outgoing AG is unwilling to confirm or deny.

"I have totally been engrossed in duty as Attorney General, but will now have ample time to get more involved with the people of Busia in general activities and other undertakings," he says.

Initially enthusiastic about a local elective post, Wako’s interest seems to have died down. His entry into the "dirty game" could pit him against challengers, including Sports Minister Paul Otuoma, Labour Assistant Minister Sospeter Ojamoong’, former Cabinet Minister and Nambale MP Chris Okemo and vocal Budalang’i legislator Ababu Namwamba.

Eyeing his roots

Busia is also home to permanent secretaries David Stower (Water) and Andrew Mondoh (Special Programmes), who are believed to be eyeing either the senate or governor seat.

Wako’s other leg appears to be at the United Nations, where it all started before his appointment as AG. He is already lobbying for re-election to the coveted position as member of the United Nations’ International Law Commission. The elections come up in November this year.

"I am a leading commercial arbitrator on the continent and will therefore be reviving this practice as well, " he says.

Besides, Wako plans to form a non-governmental organisation to lobby "for the greater economic and political integration of eastern Africa."

Appointed at a time when Kenya was discarding a one-party dictatorship and embracing political-pluralism, Wako has presided over the most delicate political transitional moments in the country.

He has witnessed four presidential elections and retained a Cabinet slot for a record 20 years, making him the longest serving holder of the office not just in Kenya, but the Commonwealth.

Behind his ever-bubbling smile lurks a cunning tack that has helped him wade through political mud over the years. Contemporaries also agree he possesses a sharp legal mind that has guaranteed his survival in office.

Law Society of Kenya chairman Kenneth Akide says Wako came into office with quite impressive and enviable academic and professional credentials: "Unfortunately, he neither got the political will nor did the Constitution of the day allow him to translate his credentials into deeds."

And Chairman of Centre for Multiparty Democracy Justin Muturi views Wako’s tenure as disappointment to the Kenyan people.

Muturi, a lawyer, enumerates unresolved cases including the murder of former Minister for Foreign Affairs Robert Ouko, the Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing and Grand Regency scams, as among those Wako was unwilling or unable to unravel.

But Wako maintains the AG is a prosecutor and not an investigator and that success in prosecution largely depends on the strength of investigations: "The investigative arms of Government are not under the AG but Office of President". Wako also maintains, he "never at any time made a decision in order to survive in the office" as has been suggested. This, he says, is because he has openings at the international level.

And is he guilty of some of the poor decisions attributed to Presidents Moi and Kibaki? "I have at all times given an honest, fair and objective legal opinion on any issue presented to me," he concludes.