The Immortals: The Githongos have fought the war of transparency

John Githongo. Photo: Courtesy

The recent death of Joe Githongo, who had Mzee Jomo Kenyatta as among his clients, ended the life of one of Kenya’s most accomplished accountants. The father of John Githongo, founded one of the earliest accounting and auditing firms, Githongo and Company in 1969.

 David S. Fick in, Entrepreneurship in Africa: A Study of Successes notes that it morphed into one of the largest and oldest indigenous firms of certified public accountants in Kenya where it’s among the ‘biggest seven’ with clients spread across tourism, agriculture, utilities, finance and industrial sectors.

Joe Muiruri Githongo: The two-time chair of Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, founded Githongo & Company- where Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma and Commercial Bank of Africa CEO Isaac Awuondo horned their careers. It later merged with BDO International Consultants, one of the world’s largest, to become BDO Githongo and Company in 2007.

The financially generous lover of nyama choma was a founder board member of Transparency International Kenya Chapter which his son, John Githongo, later headed. The hubby of 53 years to Mary Wairimu and father of John, Gitau, Wanjiru, Mugo and Nyambura Githongo died on September 8, 2016 at 83.

John Githongo: the alumnus of St Mary’s School and University of Wales (economics and philosophy) was a management consultant before venturing into journalism for which he was a finalist during the 1995 CNN Africa Journalist Awards.

Following in his dad’s footsteps, he joined Transparency International Kenya, but it was as PS for Governance and Ethics in two years to 2005 that Githongo would be famous as a whistle-blower of the grand corruption in the Mwai Kibaki Administration and for which he went into exile at the height of the Anglo Leasing scandal. He returned to Kenya in 2008 and founded Inuka Kenya Trust, a grassroots advocacy group. He is the recipient of the 2015 Allard Prize for International Integrity.

Gitau Githongo: Alumnus of Oxford University (Msc. Economics) University of Buckingham (Bsc. economics) and Stratmore School, is FMA Services Director at BDO Githongo and Company.

Wanjiru Gikonyo: The alumnus of Nairobi University (MA, rural sociology and community development) and Herriot-Watt University (business organization, Scotland), founded The Institute for Social Accountability (Tisa) in 2008. It was Tisa that wedged a legal war against the CDF for three years to 2015.

Mugo Githongo: The alumnus of St Mary’s School and Greene’s College, Oxford is founding director of Reelforge Media Monitoring besides forays with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and BDO Kenya as Network Manager.