Njee: Uhuru’s ‘Mr Fix It’ who’s never far from table

In the wee hours of October 3, 2014 Solicitor General Njee Muturi arrived at State House, Nairobi, for a crucial meeting.

In the room were heads of security agencies, his boss Attorney-General Githu Muigai, Jubilee parliamentary leaders, international law experts and the President’s brother Muhoho Kenyatta.

President Uhuru Kenyatta arrived and the meeting started. There was only one agenda: was the Head of State going to honour the International Criminal Court (ICC) summons and what were the likely ramifications of the decision?

Deputy President William Ruto was away on an official trip but was reportedly aware of the meeting.

At the end of the discussion, the President chose a dramatic route. He would temporarily hand over power to Mr Ruto and travel to The Hague to attend court. The case would later collapse.

PRESIDENT'S RIGHT-HAND MAN

In the echelons of power, Mr Muturi is never far away from the head of the table.

It is understood that Mr Muturi, a long time aide of Mr Kenyatta, is the President’s right-hand man and confidant.

The 48-year-old lawyer has been in the thick of things in many of the critical decisions that have shaped the political career of Mr Kenyatta.

He has, over the years, learned and understood the President’s thinking, which is why the Head of State never looks too far when seeking an opinion on some of the weighty matters he has to consider.

“Njee knows the interests of the President in a manner no one else does. He is one of the few people whose antennae is so high that once the boss cannot be reached to make a critical decision, he acts and explains later. And he is always right,” says an aide of the President who requested anonymity.

CONTROVERSIAL SECURITY LAWS

When the controversial security laws were passed in December 2014, Mr Muturi was conspicuously present in the Speaker’s gallery and watched quietly as the drama among MPs unfolded.

He had been instrumental in drafting the Bills.

Mr Muturi was also on hand to ensure that former Ethics and Anti-corruption Commissioners Mumo Matemo, Prof Jane Onsongo and Ms Irene Keino were eased out of office.

Although he was not physically seen, it was clear from conversations with those in the corridors of power that Mr Muturi was in the driver’s seat.

The government was not keen to appoint a tribunal after Parliament had passed a vote-of-no-confidence in them.

In what was described as “Kanu tactics”,  Prof Onsongo and Ms Keino were placed in different rooms and each was told that the other had resigned and therefore they had to sign resignation papers.

Ms Keino demurred but soon she gave in under intense pressure.

Mr Muturi’s fingerprints can be traced in virtually all major decisions the President has made from the day he joined mainstream politics in 2002.

PRESIDENT'S MR FIX IT

He was Mr Kenyatta’s personal assistant from 2002 to 2013 when he paved the way for the President’s nephew, Jomo Gecaga.

His own father, Mr Muturi wa Njee, was at one time an aide of President Jomo Kenyatta.

When Jubilee came to power in 2013, Mr Muturi was appointed Solicitor General. There was talk that he had lost favour, hence the reason he was posted away from State House.

“That’s not true. The Solicitor General is the heart of government and signs deals and international treaties and agreements . . . with the ICC case ongoing and Kenya’s foreign policy becoming aggressive, the President needed someone who understood him, and there was no one else better qualified than Njee,” said another presidential aide.

When contacted by the Sunday Nation, Mr Muturi laughed heartily at the suggestion that he is the President’s Mr Fix It.

“All the issues I have tackled from EACC, ICC and Security laws are in my docket. They are in the AG’s docket where I serve as the accounting officer,” said Mr Muturi.

“When I start a task I oversee it to the end, like I did with Security laws,” said Mr Muturi who then offered, “That’s perhaps the reason why I stayed with the President for so long.”

PROF ONSONGO'S RESIGNATION

His version on how Ms Keino and Prof Onsongo left office is, however, different.

He said Prof Onsongo had initially volunteered to resign but withdrew the offer only for her to turn around and resign.

“I was shocked to read that I coerced her to resign. Why would I force her or anyone else to resign? Prof Onsongo wanted to resign and as she put it she didn’t want her name soiled.

Ironically, her name was not on the petition against EACC commissioners. When Keino resigned she followed suit. I was not party to their decisions,” he said. 

Mr Muturi, who is married to the daughter of one time political firebrand Njehu Gatabaki, is consulted by many government operatives including parastatal heads and independent commission bosses. 

He says that times have changed and these days he only deals with the President on matters in his docket, and strictly on official terms. “He doesn’t call me like it was before Jubilee came to power.  We do not talk often or, say even have lunch once a month like we used to do before.”

REACHING "THE BOSS"

He also said there are no differences between him and the Attorney-General, contrary to speculation in the corridors of power.

Mr Muturi told MPs who want to meet the President as they were often used to when he was the personal assistant that times have changed and that Mr Kenyatta is now the Head of State.

Before Mr Kenyatta became President, Mr Muturi was the channel that MPs used to reach “the boss” as he is fondly referred to by his aides and allies

The day Mr Muturi will sit down to write a book, he will perhaps share intimate details of when Mr Kenyatta, who was the Kanu presidential candidate, conceded defeat on that Sunday afternoon in 2002.

He might also explain how the then leader of opposition steadied his political ship to the point of joining the Orange movement in 2005 and leaving it 2007.

The memoirs may also include the post-election violence and its aftermath, the naming of his boss as a suspect by then ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo on December 15, 2010.

“More than 10 years of political calculations were at stake and Muturi was at hand to help the boss when Ocampo dropped his bombshell,” said a source. At one point, the prosecutor accused him of tampering with witnesses.