Former Prime Minister and CORD leader Raila Odinga, has joined the list of witnesses fronted by former Permanent Secretary John Githongo, to exonerate him from defamation allegations.
The former Premier has sworn an affidavit in which he might be called to testify. He had previously attended a court session in support of Githongo and the move to have his word in the case might add weight on the claim that the former Internal Security minister Chris Murungaru, was not defamed.
In the case, Murungaru maintains that he was a clean man and that the dossier by Githongo tarnished his good reputation.
In previous court proceedings, he told the court that a watchdog committee of Parliament chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta, then an MP, cleared him of all claims related to the Anglo Leasing scandal.
He said the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which was then chaired by Uhuru as the Leader of Official Opposition, found no evidence of wrongdoing on his part.
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However, according to Raila, Murungaru, the former powerful minister, had been unfavourably mentioned in the sub-committee with regard to the multi-billion saga and other security related contracts.
Mr Odinga said Murungaru stopped attending a cabinet sub-committee on anti-corruption when his name was mentioned with regard to Anglo Leasing.
CORD leader in his sworn affidavit before the court said Mr Murungaru’s name featured in the committee where Githongo also sat as a secretary when mysterious payments started returning to Kenya, once a probe into the saga started.
Mr Odinga was then a Roads and Public Works Minister in the former President Mwai Kibaki’s Government. Raila added that he served alongside both Murungaru and Githongo.
The committee comprised Raila, and other former ministers David Mwiraria, Muskari Kombo, Prof Anyang Nyong’o and Kiraitu Murungi.
“In the said committee meeting (Cabinet sub- committee on anti-corruption) the plaintiff’s name (Murungaru) was mentioned severally, and adversely so with regard to Anglo Leasing and other security related contracts. He even subsequently stopped attending the said meetings,’’ Raila told the court in his affidavit.
In the defamation case against Githongo, before High Court judge David Onyancha, Raila in his affidavit dated March 16, this year, said Murungaru had also been publicly linked to the saga during the 2005 referendum.
The CORD leader attended a court session to show solidarity with anti-graft crusader (Mr Githongo).
The genesis
The scandal now before the court, first came to the public limelight when the then Ntonyiri MP Maoka Maore, raised the issue before the floor of the house on April 2, 2004.
Another allegation against Murungaru surfaced with Githongo claiming that a meeting was held at his office, then at the State House Nairobi, with former permanent secretary Dave Mwangi (Provincial Administration).
Senator Kiraitu Murungi allegedly exerted pressure on him to drop the arrest of senior lawyer Fred Ojiambo.
In subsequent meetings, Githongo in his affidavit received by the court on March 17, 2015 claimed that Mr Murungi held that he could not have Murungaru behind bars due to their friendship.
“On June 29, 2004, there was another conversation between Hon Kiraitu Murungi and Dave Mwangi and myself at the then office at State House Nairobi, in which he told me he could not order the arrest of the plaintiff (Murungaru) in respect to Anglo Leasing related matters since he was close to him,’’ Githongo said.
The former PS also claimed that he held another meeting with Mr Murungi at his other office, then situated at the Office of the President. He said Murungaru was the chairman of the resource mobilisation committee meant to raise money for political work.
“All these conversations were recorded on digivox DVN-2064/2128 recording device. After each recording, I transferred it to my personal Dell computer. I wish to produce the same and mark the same as exhibits. I did not leak the said report to anybody, save for the two copies I sent to the President and Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission Authority director,’’ Githongo said.
Githongo said by the time the name of the former minister was in the media, his name had already been in the public domain, a sentiment reiterated by then Nation Media Group’s editorial director Joseph Odindo.
