When John Githongo served the president, he did his work with utmost commitment, in my life, I have never seen a public servant like Githongo, am not just praising John for the love I have for him or because he is one of my role models but for what he stood and still stands for.

If you don’t know John Githongo, He studied Economics and Philosophy at the University of Wales before returning to his native Kenya. He briefly worked as a management consultant and researcher before moving into journalism. In this role he wrote extensively for the East African attacking corruption throughout Kenyan society under the Moi regime, this was way before he had been employed by Kibaki.

He is the pioneer of the Kenyan chapter of Transparency international, a non-governmental agency devoted to fighting corruption, before going to exile John Githongo was President Kibaki’s chief adviser on the war on corruption in his capacity as the Permanent Secretary in charge of Ethics and Governance Department.

That is just a bit of his background, now let us dwell a little on facts, if you read through the “Githongo Dossier” the Githongo report on the Anglo Leasing Scandal, you will find a lot in this man, you will comment on his ability to back his findings with substantive evidence, you will also commend on his bravery to name implicated ministers and influential persons by name without censoring any in fear of victimization.

I for one appreciate his work unlike many other reports which are full of allegations advised by tribal under hands. He stood his ground when all the powerful people were closing in on him, he even could not be intimidated by Kibaki’s Kitchen cabinet who were out to buy him off, at one time he was even frustrated by the then Anti Corruption Head,Aaron Ringera.

In his activities, Githongo has created enemies in his back yard, although some of them are very proud of their straight forward son. Many of them claimed he was fighting his own people forgetting that there was always a first time for everything.

When the post of the Director of The Kenya Anti Corruption Commission was in dispute I was privileged to have a conversation with John Githongo, I remember asking him if he would apply for the Job if Parliament annulled Ringera’s reappointment, he told me he was not going to comment on that, from this I figured out that my friend was saying “lets wait and see” as much as there is pressure piling on him to take the Job, it remains his decision to do or not to do so.

But if you were to ask of my opinion, I think naturally all Kenyans are in need of his stewardship therefore John will be doing us a great service by applying for the job because Kenyans can trust him in that job more than they can trust any living civil servant.

When he was interviewed by the Standard on the 06/02/2009 he never regretted his move to fight the strong and mighty I remember him saying answering ”No. I don’t feel dejected. This is a long haul struggle fraught with victories and setbacks too. By 2007, corruption had started to change into an offshoot of a new energetic kind of matatu corporatism; corruption wore a suit and traded on the stock exchange via holding companies; invested in middle class urban villas and the like.

Shenanigans with regard to the privatisation of public assets and brazen conflict of interest with regard to participation in share flotation”.

This was after being questioned whether he was dejected because his tape recordings never had a big impact in his fight on corruption.

From his answer I see a man who calls corruption what it is without hiding behind money bags, I see a man who saw through shoddy deals that defraud the Kenyan Public their resources without worrying whether he was implicating his tribesmen, in John Githongo I see a man who can head The Kenya Anti Corruption Commission with the devotion that is needed period!

I quote John Githongo’s words “The war is not lost but important battles have been lost. What is happening today is not so much a failure in the fight against corruption but a reverberating failure in leadership”

I rest my case.