 |
Aaron Gitonga Ringera E.B.S. (born 20 June 1950) is a Kenyan lawyer who served as a judge and as the former director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC). He was born in Githongo, Meru.
|
Aaron Gitonga Ringera E.B.S. (born 20 June 1950) is a Kenyan lawyer who served as a judge and as the former director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC). He was born in Githongo, Meru.
Ringera has a Master's (LLM) and Bachelor's (LLB) degrees in law from the University of Nairobi. He also holds a diploma in International and Comparative law of Human rights from Strasbourg in France and studied for a diploma in Law and practice at the Kenya School of Law. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi in the 1980s. He also doubled up as a lawyer in private practice together with Kiraitu Murungi and Gibson Kamau Kuria, but when the latter two fell in trouble with the authorities during the "dark era" of Moi, he quit the firm he helped found and instead teamed up with George Oraro and Ambrose Rachier.
He was a Senior lecturer in the University of Nairobi and taught most of the leading lawyers and was Chairman of the Department of Public Law.
He was later appointed Judge of the High Court of Kenya in 1994, marking the end of his career as a top lawyer and transitioning to the bench. In 1999, President Daniel arap Moi elevated him by appointing him to the position of Solicitor-General, succeeding Benjamin Kubo, who retired. [1]
He became the Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA) in March 1999, succeeding the first Director John Harun Mwau. The High Court ruled on December 22, 2000, that KACA was unconstitutional. [2] As a result, the Head of Civil Service Richard Leakey asked Ringera to resign, which he did in January 2001. [3] KACA was succeeded by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission, which was established in 2003. [2] Ringera was appointed as the first Director of KACC in August 2004, despite opposition from the Liberal Democratic Party, which was part of the NARC coalition government. As a result of this appointment, he retired as a Court of Appeal judge in 2004. [4] The Director of KACC had the highest salary for a Civil Servant in Kenya, and enjoyed a better salary than the President. [5]
In her 2009 book Our Turn To Eat , journalist Michela Wrong accused Ringera of delivering death threats against his then-colleague John Githongo in November 2005 and February 2006.
Ringera was reappointed by President Mwai Kibaki for a second five-year term on August 31, 2009. [6] However, two weeks later the Kenyan parliament voted against the appointment, stating it was not legal as it should have been approved by the parliament [7] It was the first time in Kenyan history, when the parliament overruled the president. As a result, Ringera resigned on September 30, 2009. He was replaced by prominent Kenyan Lawyer, Prof. P.L.O. Lumumba as the Commission's Director/Chief Executive. [5] Ringera has always answered his critics by stating that he did not have powers to prosecute those accused of corruption and resigned to save the KACC from the threat of dissolution. [8] [9]
Ringera served as a Judge of the Appellate Division of the East African Court Of Justice in Arusha Tanzania, having been appointed alongside two other judges by H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2014, replacing retiring Judge Justice Philip Tunoi. He retired from the Court after reaching the mandatory retirement age for Judges at 70 years.
On Thursday 12 November 2021, the Kenyan Sports, Culture and Heritage Cabinet Secretary Amina_Mohammed disbanded the Federation of Kenya Football (FKF) over corruption allegations. A 15-member caretaker committee led by Aaron Ringera was appointed to hold office for six months leading to fresh elections. [10] [11]
In June 2022, the FKF Caretaker Committee Chairmanship position came to an end as he was replaced as Chairman of the Caretaker Committee. [12]
In August 2022, he was appointed as a non-executive Director of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) Board of Directors. Leading up to the appointment, He was a member of the Taskforce on the Review of Power Purchase Agreements as well as the Steering Committee on the Implementation of the Report of the Presidential Taskforce on Review of Power Purchase Agreements. [13] Later in the year following the 2022 General Elections, the National Treasury wrote to the Power Company seeking removal of the Board of Directors in a shakeup. [14] Mr. Ringera and others would exit the Board eventually.
Currently, he is practicing Arbitration and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of London. [15]
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki was a Kenyan politician who served as the third President of Kenya from December 2002 until April 2013. He served in various leadership positions in Kenya's government including being the longest serving Member of Parliament (MP) in Kenya from 1963 to 2013.
Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. The son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, he previously served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2008 to 2013.
The Goldenberg scandal was a political scandal where the Kenyan government was found to have subsidised exports of gold far beyond standard arrangements during the 1990s, by paying the company Goldenberg International 35% more than their foreign currency earnings. Although it notionally appears that the scheme was intended to earn hard currency for the country, it is estimated to have cost Kenya the equivalent of more than 10% of the country's annual gross domestic product, and it is possible that no or minimal amounts of gold were actually exported. The scandal appears to have involved political corruption at the highest levels of the government of Daniel Arap Moi. Officials in the former government of Mwai Kibaki have also been implicated.
The Anglo Leasing scandal was a government procurement-facilitated corruption scandal in Kenya.
Moody Arthur Awori, known as "Uncle Moody", is a former Kenyan politician who served as the ninth Vice President of Kenya from 25 September 2003 to 9 January 2008. He is also the author of Riding on a Tiger, an autobiography about his life in politics.
Amos Wako is a former Attorney General of Kenya and the first senator for Busia County from 2013 to 2022. Wako won the senatorial seat after defeating former minister of finance Chris Okemo. He won the senator seat on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) being led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Wako currently serves as Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Constitutional Experts for Drafting the EAC Political Federation Constitution, the committee drafting the constitution for the East African Confederation.
Christopher Ndarathi Murungaru is a former Kenyan politician, a former Member of Parliament for Kieni Constituency in Nyeri District and a former Minister of Transport.
Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi is a Kenyan politician and land economist who is currently serving as Prime Cabinet Secretary of Kenya, and since 2023, in an expanded role of Foreign & Diaspora Affairs Minister of Kenya. He is a former party leader of the Amani National Congress (ANC), one of the founding political parties, of the Kenya Kwanza alliance.
John Githongo is a former Kenyan journalist who investigated bribery and fraud in his home country (Kenya) and later, under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, took on an official governmental position to fight corruption. In 2005 he left that position, later accusing top ministers of large-scale fraud. In the Anglo-leasing corruption which he blew the lid over, fraudulent deliveries of government military and forensic laboratory equipment were allegedly ordered, "delivered" and the payment completed in the former president Uhuru Kenyatta's tenure. The story of his fight against corruption is told in Michela Wrong's book It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower.
David (Daudi) Mwiraria was the Minister for Environment and Natural Resources and previously Finance Minister of Kenya until December 2007 when Kenya held its General Elections. Running for re election on a Party of National Unity ticket, defending his seat as Member of parliament for North Imenti Constituency, he was defeated by Silas Muriuki, who was running on a Mazingira Green Party of Kenya ticket.
Kiraitu Murungi is a Commissioner at the Kenya Law Reform Commission and the former governor of Meru County in Kenya. He is a former long-serving member of parliament for South Imenti constituency (1992-2013), former cabinet minister, and former senator for Meru County.
Corruption in the government of Kenya has a history which spans the era of the founding president Jomo Kenyatta, to Daniel arap Moi's KANU, Mwai Kibaki's PNU governments. President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party government, and the current William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza administration has also been riddled with massive cases of graft, topping in the list of corrupt presitents in Africa
Amos Muhinga Kimunya, is a Kenyan politician and the Majority Leader of the National Assembly of Kenya under the Jubilee Party and Member of Parliament for Kipipiri Constituency, He was once Kenya's Minister of Trade. He was Minister of Finance from 2006 to July 2008, when he resigned due to the Grand Regency Hotel scandal. Previously, he was the Minister of Lands and Settlement. In 2019 Amos Kimunya graduated from the United States International University (Nairobi) with a PhD in business administration. On June 22 Hon. Kimunya replaced Hon. Aden Duale for the position of majority leader of the National Assembly.
John Njoroge Michuki was a Kenyan politician and businessman. He was born at Muguru, village, Iyego Location, Kangema Division in Murang’a District. He was educated in Kenya and abroad. Michuki emerged as one of the prominent and long-serving civil servants and politicians as well as a businessman in Kenya. Michuki served Kenya in various capacities, including Permanent Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Chairman of the Kenya Commercial Bank, Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister. He was serving his 4th five-year term as a Member of Parliament for Kangema Constituency. Michuki had a reputation as a "ruthless" and efficient manager, and was widely acknowledged as among the best performing ministers in President Kibaki's Government. He was serving as the Minister for Environment and National Resources at the time of his death.
George Kamau Muhoho is a former Director General of the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).
Dr. Nancy Makokha Baraza is a former Kenyan judge. She was the first Deputy Chief Justice of Kenya and a member of Kenya's first supreme court after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. She served in the court from June 2011 to her suspension in January 2012 and resigned on 18 October 2012. She was appointed to the Kenya Law Reform Commission in 2008 for a term of three years, serving as a vice chairperson until her appointment as deputy CJ. In early 2010, she was elected chairperson of the Media Council of Kenya’s Ethics and Complaints Commission.
Smokin Wanjala is a Kenyan lawyer and a justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya. He holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Ghent, Belgium. He also holds a Master of Laws degree from the Columbia University in the United States and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Nairobi. Wanjala lectured at the University of Nairobi for 15 years, teaching international law, international human rights law, land law and criminal law.
The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) was established in April 2003 to replace the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority after Parliament enacted new legislation.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) formerly the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission(KACC) is a public body established under Section 3 (1) of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2011.The Commission is mandated to combat and prevent corruption through law enforcement, preventive measures, education and promotion of standards and best practices in integrity and ethics in Kenya
The 2003 Ringera Judiciary Report was a Kenya Government report published by the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Committee of the Judiciary in Kenya in order to implement a policy known as radical surgery introduced by the new government of President Mwai Kibaki. The committee was led by Justice Aaron Ringera.