Stephen Njiru: Tribute to a hero of Kenya’s quiet revolution

2016 was a particularly painful year that saw many famous faces gone too soon.

On December 4, this column eulogised the Cuban revolutionary leader, Fidel Castrol. And the boxing legend, Mohamed Ali, also left us in June.

At home, I lost a friend and compatriot, Dr Stephen Kimemia Njiru (December 1967-December 2016), on December 8, 2016.

A soft-spoken legal luminary, Njiru has been a key intellectual figure in what the World Bank has enchanted as “Kenya’s quiet revolution” in the opening decades of the 21st century.

Njiru proffered indispensable intellectual leadership to the seismic processes after the 2008 crisis that heralded the country’s rebirth and rise to a global middle power status, including a new constitution, a devolved government system and sustained economic acceleration.

I first met Njiru in 1980s in one of the flurry of events that characterised former President Daniel Moi’s charm offensive to win the hearts and minds of university youth to Kanu.

He left a lasting imprint in my mind as a focused down-to-earth personality who was not blinded by fame, wealth and power despite being a brilliant laureate of Alliance High School and second son of the then powerful Minister for Political Affairs, James Njiru – remembered for his “Kanu moto” slogan.

As the American, Bob Riley, once quipped: “It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed”. This is true of Stephen Njiru’s career.

Njiru and I reunited in 2008 as “returnees”. We had returned from our sojourns abroad.

We were part of Kenya’s émigré who decided to return in the wake of the 2007/2008 post-election mayhem “to rebuild the shrines”– as Njiru liked putting it.

“Meet Dr Stephen Njiru,” said a senior government official as he introduced us in August 2008.

“You will be working with him to help us,” added the official.

OPPOSING DEVOLUTION
From that point on, we became not just compatriots and professional colleagues but also friends who were like Siamese twins in the eyes of the Kenyan public.

Our main assignment was to provide intellectual support to the government in its efforts to implement the National Accord and Reconciliation Act (2008).

Upon his return, Njiru drew on his illustrious career as a legal scholar and practitioner.

As an academic, Njiru had lectured law at the University of Manchester where he also obtained his PhD and conducted research particularly on international financial institutions.

At home, he established the Humphrey & Company Advocates.

When I asked him why he landed on the name, he flashed his signature smile.

“In meetings abroad, I am routinely requested to pass regards to Mr Humphrey”.

As an adviser to governments, public bodies and international corporations, Njiru emerged as a strategic thinker with a globalist orientation.

I treasure memories of our study tour to South Africa in March-April 2009 to draw lessons and good practices from the African National Congress (ANC) and help turn the PNU into a functioning mass social movement.

Njiru insisted that we should not leave until we have a draft five-year political plan to guide the political transition in 2013.

Njiru and I identified the “majimbo” ideology as the main ideological fault-line in Kenyan politics.

During the party’s retreat in Nakuru later in 2009, chaired by the late George Saitoti, we stunned the delegates by proposing that the party adopt “majimbo” (devolution) as its ideology and strategy to neutralise malignant shades of “ethnic federalism”.

After a heated debate, devolution was eventually adopted as the cornerstone of the PNU coalition.

PEOPLE DECIDE
But Njiru’s most indelible legacy is his contribution to the thinking behind the new constitutional order.

Taking to heart the wise words of Mahatma Gandhi that: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world,” he served in the government’s technical team negotiating for the new constitution.

In January 2010, Njiru joined the PNU coalition’s team that provided backing to the lead negotiator, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta’s (now President), in the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC).

This led to the famous “Naivasha Consensus” that adopted a national government and a two-tier system of government with 47 counties.

In April 2010, Njiru was appointed to the Joint National Secretariat of the Grand Coalition Government formed by President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to spearhead the campaign for the new constitution.

I served as a joint director with ODM’s Janet Ongera, reporting to the two convenors, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and Kiraitu Murungi.

We traversed the country together, earning the epithet “the two musketeers”.

On June 30, 2010, we received the results of an opinion poll showing that national support for the constitution stood at 51 per cent.

We panicked. We invited the late Njenga Karume and Kiraitu Murungi to an emergency meeting at our KICC offices to share the news.

The crisis meeting culminated in the famous “Limuru 1 Conference”, which became a game-changer in the battle for the new constitution that won a resounding 70 per cent vote in the referendum.

WELL LIVED
It was Mahatma Gandhi who said that: “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

This is the wisdom that guided our approach to the Kibaki succession strategy between 2011 and 2013.

Between 2011 and 2013, Njiru and I supported a team of elders from the Mount Kenya communities to negotiate lasting peace with their counterparts from the Rift Valley.

The two-year talks set the stage for the Kikuyu-Kalenjin détente and the eventual formation of the Jubilee coalition that won the March 2013 General Election.

In the social media, Njiru is famously known as “President Uhuru Kenyatta’s lawyer at the International Criminal Court (ICC), signifying the technical support he provided in the Hague process that culminated in the acquittal of both President Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto.

On February 10, 2012, Njiru was appointed to the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) board as an Independent Director, where he served as the chairman of its Legal and Regulatory Committee and member of the Finance Committee.

In a very gentle way, Njiru shook our world and our thoughts.

When I asked him what message we should send out to the world in the August referendum victory, he drew my attention to Julius Caesar’s immortal words: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

One can only conclude with Napoleon Bonaparte: “It is a life well lived, not the death, that makes the hero”.  Adieu my friend.

Prof Kagwanja is the CEO of Africa Policy Institute