Wako: Ready to call it a day?

He had been the lead defence lawyer representing former Kuresoi MP Zakayo Cheruiyot in an Anglo Leasing related case. The State ended up hiring private lawyers to prosecute the cases to avoid a conflict of interest. Mr Cheruiyot, the last Internal Security PS in the Moi administration, is charged alongside John Alao, a former finance secretary in the President’s Office, in connection with procurement of equipment for a CID forensic laboratory.

Mr Tobiko had already filed documents for the defence and applied to the High Court to defer the case by the time he was appointed DPP in mid-2005. Another candidate on the list for the powerful office of the AG, according to our sources, is Mr Murgor. He left the office in the heat of a controversy surrounding Mr Tom Cholmondeley, the scion of British colonial aristocracy.

Mr Murgor alleged that he had been pushed out by powerful forces over the changes he had proposed as director of public prosecutions. Specifically, he seemed to have fallen out with police headquarters over proposals that the role of prosecution cases should be taken up by lawyers under him rather than police officers.

Special rapporteur

Another candidate whose name has been mentioned is law professor Githu Muigai, who was appointed in March the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Prof Muigai also sat in the now defunct Constitution of Kenya Review Commission whose mandate ended following the constitutional referendum in November 2005.

Incidentally, Prof Muigai’s name is also mentioned as possible CJ. Another former CKRC commissioner, Mr Mutakha Kangu, who is the head of the Department of Public Law at Moi University, is said to have featured on the list of possible candidates.

Yet another name that came up during interviews by the Sunday Nation with lawyers who are close to government's thinking, is that of Mr Kathurima M’Inoti, a member of the ICJ and the chairman of the Kenya Law Reform Commission. ODM stalwarts are also said to be considering forwarding the name of Mr Donald Kipkorir.