Kiraitu Murungi

Kiraitu Murungi (born 1 January 1952) 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. Education Kiraitu Murungi was born on 1 January 1952 in Kionyo village, Abogeta division of Meru District in Eastern Kenya to Daniel M’Mwarania and Anjelika Kiajia. He attended Kionyo primary school after which he joined Chuka High School before proceeding to Alliance High School. Murungi graduated with a Bachelor of Law from the University of Nairobi in 1977 and attained a Master of Law in the same university in 1982. In 1991 he attained another Master of Law from Harvard Law School when he was in exile for two years in the United States during Daniel arap Moi's one-party dictatorship period. Law career Murungi was a partner in a law firm he founded with Gibson Kamau Kuria and Aaron Ringera, where he practised law for ten years. His biggest case during this period was representing political prisoners of the Moi government including Wanyiri Kihoro against the government itself. A case that is covered in Wanyiri Kihoro's book Never Say Die: The Chronicle of a Political Prisoner and resulted in the detention of Kuria in an attempt to cause the abandonment of the case, as well as a period in exile in various western countries for both Mr. Murungi and Mr. Kuria. Political career Upon his return from exile, Kiraitu joined the struggle for multi-party democracy in 1990 as one of Kenya's "Young Turks." Murungi joined the newly formed Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) following Kenya's return to multi-party politics in 1991. He was elected to parliament on the FORD ticket during the first multi-party election in 1992, serving as Member of parliament for South Imenti Constituency, Meru. Kiraitu decamped from FORD to Democratic Party (DP) when FORD splintered in the aftermath of the demise of its leader, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, retaining the South Imenti seat during the 1997 general elections. As an opposition member of parliament between 1991 and 2002, Kiraitu served as the shadow Attorney-General and member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Anti-Corruption.