Former Attorney-General Githu Muigai Quits As Council Of Legal Education Chairperson

Former Attorney-General (AG) Prof. Githu Muigai has resigned as the chairperson of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) Board.

In an internal memo to his colleagues on Monday, October 2 and seen by Viral Tea, Prof Muigai revealed that he resigned from the post owing to some of the submissions he made last week while appearing before the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) at Bomas of Kenya that have made his position untenable.

"I write to inform you of my decision to resign from the Council of Legal Education, effective immediately. The events of the last week have made my continued leadership of the institution untenable.

"As most of you know I have dedicated a very large part of my career to legal education and training and it is with a very heavy heart that I have arrived at this decision," he wrote in part.

Former Attorney-General, Prof. Githu Muigai. /THE LAWYER AFRICA

The ex-AG has since requested the State Law Office to fill the vacancy as soon as possible to enable the institution to run seamlessly.

"I want to thank you all for the unconditional support you accorded me in my position as Chairman. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours," he concluded.

Prof. Muigai told the NADCO committee on Thursday, September 28 that Parliament has too many leaders, and that there should be a plan to reduce the number of constituencies as well as scrap a few political positions.

"We have too many people in Parliament, we have too many constituencies and counties. They are costing us a lot of money. Reduce the constituencies to about 100 and have one man and one woman in each," he claimed.

Muigai explained that when he participated in the drafting of the Constitution in 2004 at the Bomas of Kenya, in what became famously known as the Bomas draft, the suggestion was to have only 14 counties.

However, the former AG noted that politicians changed their tune later on and increased the number, stating that "They came up with a compromise of let's go to 41 counties."

Muigai said that in the event that the Constitution draft is reopened, one issue that could be useful would be the reduction of counties.

"Bring more counties together and let them work together and mobilize resources together and share together," he continued.

The prominent lawyer further called for the two-thirds gender rule to be scrapped and, instead, a 50/50 representation to be introduced in government.

Terming it as just a “women empowerment rule," the prominent lawyer said there should be robust sensitization around the matter and even scrap off a few political positions preserved for women.

"We need to abolish the Woman Rep seat, we create two positions in the constituency. We will achieve 50 per cent, and it will be cheaper," he said.

Prof. Muigai’s resignation now comes days after CLE acting CEO Mary Mugure stepped down after staff went on strike over alleged mismanagement and high-handedness by the top leadership.

The staff are demanding the dissolution of the entire CLE Board as well as the sacking of senior officials over alleged misappropriation of funds.

The Council of Legal Education (CLE) was established as an independent statutory body in 1995 with the specific mandate to organize and conduct courses for the development of legal professionals; conduct courses for Government personnel on the general understanding of the law and organise Para-legal courses and programmes.

Muigai was appointed to the council in 2021 as a nonexecutive chairperson by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta for a period of three years.