Kenyan silver head will battle for Museveni

By Reuben Olita WHEN he was detained for challenging President Moi's powers to fire a civil servant, John Khaminwa earned the admiration of many Kenyans for his combative style of handling legal matters. His appointment last week as deputy lead counsel in President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni's team has brought back the memories of his stewardship. As one of the 100 lawyers expected to beef up Museveni's defence against Dr Kizza Besigye's Presidential election petition, the Kenyan seasoned lawyer has established himself as one of the best lawyers in post independence Kenya. The case that made Khaminwa to brush shoulders with Kenyan authorities in 1982 was that of Mwangi Stephen Muriithi who was by then the deputy chief of intelligence. Muriithi landed a transfer to Limuru's Uplands Bacon Factory as the General manager, a decision he declined, thus earning him a sack by Moi. Khaminwa, acting for Muriithi, challenged in court the powers of the President to sack a civil servant. That landed him in a two-year detention, during the single party system when detention without trial was the order of the day. Representing a top Kenyan criminal lawyer, the late S.M. Otieno's widow Wambui Otieno in 1989 burial saga with the deceased Umira Kager clan from Nyanza province, Khaminwa won the first round of the protracted battle when the High court ordered the body given to the widow to be buried in Upper Matathia near Nairobi. However, the court of appeal later reversed the decision with the clan earning the right to bury their son in Luo Nyanza. It was one of the longest heard cases that lasted over a year with the body of the late top lawyer lying at the mortuary awaiting the courts ruling. The Kikuyu clan have never forgiven the Luos todate for denying their kins lady the right to bury her husband where they had bought the land. To prove his might, Khaminwa last year got court orders to stop the retrenchment of civil servants, which was initiated by Richard Leakey's dream that was bundled out last week in a major civil service reshuffle. The matter is still pending although the exercise is being carried out in breach of the court orders. Justice Around Ringera's Kenya Anti-corruption Authority (KACA) disbandment was initiated by Khaminwa who challenged its validity. The court consisting of three judges ordered that KACA was an illegal body and as such could not investigate and prosecute cases. Khaminwa has also successfully handled election petition cases including that of the late cabinet Minister Masinde Muliro, the late Moses B. Mudavadi, Alfred Wekesa Sambu and the late Hon. Benjamin R. Ndubayi. Born in 1936, Khaminwa attended Masiyence Primary School, Musingu Intermediate School, Alliance High School, Makerere University and later Dar es Salaam University where he graduated with a bachelor of Law degree. He later pursued an LM (in international law) at the New York University and LL.D. from Haverford University in the United States. As a professional lawyer, Khaminwa has been a state counsel, a resident magistrate in the high court, Kenya, deputy registrar in the high court, principal legal secretary with the East African Community (EAC) where he rose to the position of deputy counsel. He resigned in 1973 from the EAC to join private legal practice where he formed Khaminwa and Khaminwa advocates, where he teamed up with his wife Joyce who is currently Commissioner of Assize at Mombasa high court. As the adage goes, like father like son, his family appears to have followed his footsteps, where majority of them have emulated their father's exploits in the legal field. The first born son, Albert Khaminwa is also an advocate, while Arthur Khaminwa is pursuing law at the London University. Anne Khaminwa is an architecture in the U.S. while Angela Khaminwa pursuing a degree in International Relations. Khaminwa's advocate firm has branches in Mombasa, Malindi and Nairobi where the offices are located at Bima House on Harambee Avenue. It has a work force of over 60 employees on permanent basis. With the Besigye petition being his first international assignment, his assistants Oscar Igaida and Albert Mulindi believe Khaminwa will lead Museveni's team to victory against the discontented Kizza Besigye. Khaminwa's exploits lIn 1983 he successfully petitioned the election of Fidelis Gumoto, a parliamentary seat in Kenya's Rift Valley province, on behalf of the late Masinde Muliro, a prominent opposition figure here, who had lost a general election fraudulently. lKhaminwa sued the government (in actual sense the president) for dismissing from work, a deputy director of Intelligence, Stephen Mwangi Mureithi. Before a white judge, Richard Hancox, Khaminwa argued that the president had no powers to dismiss Mureithi because the latter was an employee of the Public Service Commission who could only be dismissed after disciplinary action by an independent tribunal. lIn 1982, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and George Anyona, former political detainees, were returned to house arrest and detention, respectively, for attempting to launch an opposition party. Their families retained Khaminwa to challenge the detention. lAt the beginning of the 1990's politi cal opposition to Moi's rule re-emerged and some of its exponents were Odinga and politicians, Raila Odinga, the latter's son, Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia and others who were detained without trial at the beginning of July 1990. When Khaminwa went to Nairobi's Central Police Headquarters to challenge the detention, he was arrested on July 5 of the same year and detained without trial. A presidential decree released him after 22 days and he resumed activism, representing dissidents when most lawyers had chickened out. It was reported that Yoweri Museveni protested Khaminwa's "persecution." lIn 1990 he teamed up with anti-government lawyers like Paul Muite, and his then vocal wife, Joyce Khaminwa and others, to try and wrest the LSK, from the pro-government Fred Ojiambo, who was chairman. Controversial election caused the re-election of Ojiambo although Khaminwa was made the society's council member. lHe re-emerged in 1994 when he successfully defended an opposition MP, Ben Ndubai against an elections petition filed by a ruling party candidate. He defended George Oraro, a prominent lawyer here, who had sued some family for libel, and won. lOn December 20, 2000, a constitutional court ruled that the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority, an anti-graft body was illegal in law. The constitutional matter was brought to court by Khaminwa, acting on behalf of a former Town Clerk of Nairobi, Zipporah Wandera, who had been charged by KACA for abuse of office and corruption offences. Now he is involved in the defence of 960 former employees of the Kenya Airways, who are suing the airline for illegal dismissal from work. Ends