Rao prosecuted Moi era dissidents only to leave over Njonjo links

When President Kibaki appointed Mr Sharad Rao chairman of the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board, there were many who did not know who he was.

There were questions whether a retired civil servant from the Moi-era could be trusted with judicial reforms. Some even alleged that the board would protect the status quo.

But all this changed in April when the board sent home four appellate judges and banished two others who had just been promoted to higher courts on grounds ranging from incompetence to lack of independence and favouritism.

Mr Rao’s board has since become the kingmaker of the Judiciary, weeding out those they think are unfit for their jobs.  

Who is this man? Sharad Rao was one of the last Kenyans of Asian origin who held powerful positions in the Civil Service until 1983 when President Moi decided to use the abortive August 1982 coup as an excuse to rid his government of individuals suspected to be allied to Constitutional Affairs minister Charles Njonjo.

Others were deputy police commissioner Joginder Singh Sokhi, who also retired when Mr Njonjo was dumped, and Mr Moi reorganised his government. In so doing, Mr Moi weakened two pillars of Kenya’s economic power carried over from the Kenyatta era: the Kikuyu and the Asians.

On April 21, 1980, he appointed Mr James Karugu Attorney-General to replace Mr Njonjo, who had quit the Civil Service to go into politics.

Mr Karugu had been deputy public prosecutor for 10 years and was replaced on June 30 by Mr Rao, who assumed the position and prosecuted various politically instigated cases when Mr Moi’s leadership style was being questioned.

But Mr Rao did not curry favour with State House where he was perceived to be an outsider and the person to do the donkey work and perhaps soil his hands.

He quickly became the target of mavericks in the Nyayo regime who used the floor of the House to fight political battles and undermine all those thought to be associated with Mr Njonjo.

For instance, in March 1982, Mr Rao was forced to deny claims made in Parliament by Bungoma South MP Lawrence Sifuna that he was involved in an attempt to interfere with investigations into the industrial unrest at the Bank of Baroda together with Mr Sokhi.

Mr Sifuna told the House that both Mr Sokhi and Mr Rao were enjoying overdrafts of Sh1 million at the bank and that they had a keen interest in its affairs.

While Mr Rao sued the Daily Nation for carrying the story, it was not lost on observers that there were many efforts to clip his wings. He was also caught between the pro-Njonjo and anti-Njonjo camps in Parliament.

The saga had started in September 1981 when the bank fired some of its employees for leaking information on how it was contravening the Foreign Exchange Control Act.

Born in 1935 in Nairobi, Mr Rao was educated at the Duke of Gloucester School (now Nairobi School) in Nairobi, and became a barrister-at-law at Lincoln’s Inn in  London in 1959.

He then joined the Kenyan Civil Service and rose through the ranks after independence.

Mr Njonjo had so much trust in Mr Rao that when Attorney-General Kamau Kamere (who replaced Mr Karugu) was out of the country, he would be appointed acting AG as happened on November 20, 1982. By this time Mr Njonjo was minister for Constitutional Affairs.

But his fall also left Mr Rao vulnerable.  On June 30, 1983, President Moi had suspended Mr Njonjo pending a judicial inquiry into allegations that he was a traitor over the failed coup attempt. By this time he was considered part of a governing triumvirate with the President that included Mr GG Kariuki and Mr Mwai Kibaki.

As the hunt for Mr Njonjo allies continued, Mr Rao was in September 1983 named chairman of the lackluster Business Premises Rent Tribunal.

Five months later he received a letter dated February 20, 1984, seconding him to The Hague to be part of a team helping an international tribunal dealing with claims of the United States against Iran.

The tribunal provided Mr Rao with a soft landing away from the fallout of the Njonjo drama. Interestingly, the letter releasing him from the government was signed by Chief Secretary Jeremiah Kiereini, a close business ally of Mr Njonjo, and was addressed to Mr John Githuku, then PS in the Ministry of Commerce. 

But the hunt for Mr Rao did not cease, and he faced a criminal case which has twice come up in Parliament.

It appears that shortly after he left for The Hague, a company associated with him had allegedly been accused of  selling drugs which were not for the nature and quality demanded by the purchaser and also unlawfully labelling  of drugs.

Elys Chemical Industries Ltd and its directors and employees were charged with supplying the alleged drugs to the Division of Disease Control. But Mr Rao was out of the country, and his name was struck off the suit.

In November 1984, Attorney-General Mathew Guy Muli faced the wrath of Parliament where he was accused by Bahati MP Fred Omido of evading the question on why Mr Rao’s criminal case was withdrawn.

He told the House that while summonses were issued to all the accused persons and the directors, that of Mr Rao was returned unserved.

According to Mr Muli, “effort was made by the prosecution to find out the whereabouts of Mr Sharad Rao, through the Director of Criminal Investigations Department, together with Interpol, but no contact address was given to the prosecution for the purpose of serving the accused with summons.”

At this time Mr Rao was still in The Hague.

According to Mr Muli, when the case came up on October 25, 1984, the court could not hear it in the absence of one of the accused. “Hence at this stage, the prosecution had no alternative but to withdraw the charges against Mr Rao.

The AG promised Parliament that “with regard to Mr Rao… as soon as his whereabouts are known and summons served on him, then the case against him will proceed independently. It was not an absolute discharge of the offence.”

Mr Rao did return to Kenya in  June 1984 to testify at the Njonjo Commission of Inquiry under the chairmanship of Justice Cecil Miller following an application by lead counsel Lee Muthoga.

But no one tried to serve him with the summons.

In November 1995, the matter surfaced again in Parliament when Butere MP Martin Shikuku asked Attorney-General Amos Wako why Mr Rao was not arrested when he appeared before the Njonjo Commission of Inquiry or when he appeared to defend “a Mr Kamlesh Pattni”.

“Is the attorney-general aware that the former deputy public prosecutor, a Mr Sharad Rao, was once charged with a drug related offence?

If the answer to (a) is in the affirmative, is he further aware that his (attorney-general’s) predecessor informed this House that Interpol and the Kenya Police had failed to track down Mr Rao who was out of the country?” Mr Shikuku asked.

Mr Wako said he was aware that Mr Rao with four other persons were charged with selling drugs not of the nature or quality demanded by the purchasers.

But he said he was not aware that the former attorney-general had informed Parliament that Interpol and the Kenyan Police had failed to track down Mr Rao.

But the Hansard reports show that Mr Muli had indeed said the CID and the Interpol failed to track down Mr Rao.

The case eventually proceeded to hearing by resident magistrate Mary Ang’awa; on February 7, 1985, but Mr Rao and Mr Ishmael Casson were acquitted.

When he appeared last year before the appointing panel for the vetting board, Mr Rao was taken aback by the charges.

“I was never served, and I never knew of the charges until 1995. In any case, I was a non-executive director and all those who had been charged alongside myself were acquitted,” he told a parliamentary committee vetting his nomination.

Mr Rao could not be reached for this story as he was said to be in England attending the London Olympics.

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