Post by miguna on Jan 10, 2006 1:54:18 GMT 3
PAUL MUITE AND OUR IREDEEMABLE LAWYERS AND POLITICIANS
By MIGUNA MIGUNA* - © 9 January 2006
AT LONG LAST, Paul Muite, the MP for Kabete and a senior counsel to boot, is truly and justly facing a conundrum. Thanks to the unrelentless journalistic diligent investigation by Otsieno Namwaya of the East African Standard, we now know of Mr. Muite’s intricate web of bad debts, bounced cheques, depleted trust accounts and unfulfilled professional undertakings.
Yet Muite is still practicing law, continuing to live the high life and representing Kabete Constituency in our Parliament. He is also still acting for clients; being entrusted with funds, even after credible evidence has demonstrated his proclivity towards theft, misappropriation and blatant fraud. Holly cow! Kenyans should be very worried.
One wonders why it has taken this long to unravel Muite’s unending misbehaviour. If Otieno Kajwan’g was disbarred for stealing about fifty thousand Kenya Shillings, why is Muite still on the Rolls of Advocates after what appears like unimpeachable reams of evidence of misappropriation and misallocation of hundreds of millions of shillings of other people’s money?
Do Kenyans still remember Muite’s public quarrel with one Kamlesh Pattni over some Sh10 million change? Are there two systems of justice in this country – one for the mighty like Muite - and the other for Jo Blows like Kajwan’g? If not, why is this man Muite still free?
Why is Muite still licensed to practice law in Kenya? Where is the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in all of this? Frankly, what role does the LSK play in protecting the general public against such callous, unscrupulous and clearly greedy professional miscreants like Muite? Where have our journalists been? Why has Aaron Ringera not done anything on this one?
Otsieno Namwaya has redeemed the tattered image of Kenyan journalists and made us proud by taking his work as a journalist very seriously. By publicly and fearlessly revealing Muite’s retinue of bad debts, dishonoured cheques, purported sale of non-existent real estate (essentially real estate fraud), multiple and irregular security registrations, un-enforced and disregarded court orders as well as his defiled professional undertakings, Namwaya has deflated the cloak of armour that has for a very long time surrounded this man Muite.
But Namwaya has done more. By exposing Muite as a third-rate professional swindler who has disobeyed one court order after another, he has also exposed the scandalous silence, connivance and conspiracy of those in power; of the LSK that is supposed to be Mr. Muite’s professional regulator or governor; and of those that appointed Muite senior counsel when all these scandals were teaming and the evidence was openly available.
Based only on what Namwaya has revealed to the public, Muite owes at least Sh600 million to the National Bank of Kenya (NBK). Apparently, the NBK Managing Director, Reuben Marambi, has not been able to collect a dime from Muite due to political pressure from three cabinet ministers in the Kibaki government. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Other creditors who have been lining up to auction Muite’s properties and assets include a group called Mwana Mwereri Rironi, Naivasha Farmers Company Limited, Mbagi Limited and Omega Credit Limited. These creditors have also been unable to squeeze anything from Muite because of some questionable legal technicalities and political pressure.
It is reported that such “technicalities” have included some creditors’ inability to attach Muite’s property, firstly because the assets to be attached had also been dubiously but multiply tendered by Muite as collateral to third party creditors; secondly, the same creditors’ inability to have a new panel of judges assigned to hear the case and/or reissue another order for attachment; thirdly, Muite’s successful staying, through a constitutional reference before two “surgically excised” Justices Mbito and Hayanga, an earlier order by the High Court authorizing an auction of his assets; and fourthly, through lots of political pressure and meddling from three cabinet ministers.
In his recently published tome, The Great War for Civilization, Robert Fisk - the magnificent British war correspondent - has quoted the brilliant Israeli journalist, Amira Hass of the Ha’aretz newspaper, as saying that “a journalist’s job is to monitor the centres of power.” To Ms. Hass, a journalist’s role goes beyond mere “reporting;” it must include the interrogation, challenge and question of authority, especially those in or close to the “centres of power” like Paul Muite.
Journalists should not just try to be impartial witnesses to history and events. They should not be contented by simply reporting history as it happens; they ought to subject what they are observing to deliberate and relentless challenge. And that is what Namwaya has accomplished in his expose.
However, the group that is required to govern Muite’s conduct is the LSK. As a self-regulating professional group, lawyers’ conduct in Kenya is supposed to be kept in check by the LSK. The LSK’s primary role is to protect the public from rogue conduct by its members. It does this by ensuring that its members are properly trained and uphold the highest ethical standards in both private life and professional practice. Dishonourable or questionable conduct on the part of a lawyer in any situation (private or professional) reflects adversely upon the integrity of the profession and the administration of justice. If the conduct, whether within or outside the professional sphere, is such that knowledge of it would be likely to impair the client’s trust in the lawyer, the LSK should be justified in taking disciplinary action against the lawyer whose conduct is in question, including but not limited to disbarment.
The case of Mwana Mwereri Rironi and Naivasha Farmers Company Limited is a compelling case of real estate fraud against Muite that should be urgently addressed by the LSK, the Kenya Police and other anti-corruption agencies. According to Namwaya’s report, Muite, through his law firm, Muite Company Advocates received Sh24.1 million, in trust, from the two groups under the pretext that he would act as an Advocate for the owner, a company called Athi Holdings, in order to facilitate closing transactions.
Both Mwana Mwereri Rironi and Naivasha Farmers Company Limited paid Sh24.1 million to Muite, to hold in trust, pending the finalization of the purchase and sale transaction of a piece of land called Segera/Mukenya Ranch LR No. 9387. Although Muite had alleged that this piece of land was for sale and received Sh24.1 million from the purchasers precisely for that purpose, he later claimed that the land was subject of a civil dispute and that the purchasers should wait. However, the purchasers subsequently discovered that a company called Von Vile Enterprises had already sold the same piece of land to others and demanded a full refund of their money from Muite.
By this time, Muite had already committed both a serious criminal offense and an unethical conduct of trying to sell land that he either knew or ought to have known had already been sold. When Muite took Sh24.1 million from the two groups, he knew or ought to have known that the piece of land was no longer available for sale. His attempt to mislead both groups about the existence of land for sale when there was none means that Muite’s sole intention was to take possession of the funds given to him and irregularly convert it into his own. Clearly, he had no land for sale to offer the two groups and as such had no legitimate grounds for holding their money.
It is quite deplorable that Muite not only took possession of and withheld these two groups’ money (which he was not legally entitled to except through this devious scheme), but he has either failed or refused to return the money as well. Even scarier is the fact that in stead of being charged, convicted, sentenced, disbarred and forced to pay compensation to his innocent victims, Muite has been sheltered, protected and coddled by the powers that be – from the LSK to the government of Kenya – Muite has only received familiar smooches on the back.
There must be somewhere among the LSK rules one about a lawyer’s duty to safeguard, preserve and account for clients’ monies and other property as a careful and prudent owner would when dealing with like property, and to observe all relevant rules and law about preservation of clients’ property entrusted to a lawyer. Muite’s multiple issuance of bad cheques to both Mwana Mwereri and Naivasha Farmers Company is, prima facie, proof of misappropriation, breach of trust and fraud. Had Muite preserved the funds the way he was supposed to, all his cheques would not have been dishonoured. But even then, he would still have had a case to answer for trying to sell a non-existent land.
To think that this is the man that Kiraitu Murungi was haggling for and lobbying to be appointed a cabinet minister shows, beyond doubt, how irredeemable both our politicians and lawyers have become. Shame!
______________________________________________________________________
*The writer is a Barrister & Solicitor in Toronto, Canada
By MIGUNA MIGUNA* - © 9 January 2006
AT LONG LAST, Paul Muite, the MP for Kabete and a senior counsel to boot, is truly and justly facing a conundrum. Thanks to the unrelentless journalistic diligent investigation by Otsieno Namwaya of the East African Standard, we now know of Mr. Muite’s intricate web of bad debts, bounced cheques, depleted trust accounts and unfulfilled professional undertakings.
Yet Muite is still practicing law, continuing to live the high life and representing Kabete Constituency in our Parliament. He is also still acting for clients; being entrusted with funds, even after credible evidence has demonstrated his proclivity towards theft, misappropriation and blatant fraud. Holly cow! Kenyans should be very worried.
One wonders why it has taken this long to unravel Muite’s unending misbehaviour. If Otieno Kajwan’g was disbarred for stealing about fifty thousand Kenya Shillings, why is Muite still on the Rolls of Advocates after what appears like unimpeachable reams of evidence of misappropriation and misallocation of hundreds of millions of shillings of other people’s money?
Do Kenyans still remember Muite’s public quarrel with one Kamlesh Pattni over some Sh10 million change? Are there two systems of justice in this country – one for the mighty like Muite - and the other for Jo Blows like Kajwan’g? If not, why is this man Muite still free?
Why is Muite still licensed to practice law in Kenya? Where is the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in all of this? Frankly, what role does the LSK play in protecting the general public against such callous, unscrupulous and clearly greedy professional miscreants like Muite? Where have our journalists been? Why has Aaron Ringera not done anything on this one?
Otsieno Namwaya has redeemed the tattered image of Kenyan journalists and made us proud by taking his work as a journalist very seriously. By publicly and fearlessly revealing Muite’s retinue of bad debts, dishonoured cheques, purported sale of non-existent real estate (essentially real estate fraud), multiple and irregular security registrations, un-enforced and disregarded court orders as well as his defiled professional undertakings, Namwaya has deflated the cloak of armour that has for a very long time surrounded this man Muite.
But Namwaya has done more. By exposing Muite as a third-rate professional swindler who has disobeyed one court order after another, he has also exposed the scandalous silence, connivance and conspiracy of those in power; of the LSK that is supposed to be Mr. Muite’s professional regulator or governor; and of those that appointed Muite senior counsel when all these scandals were teaming and the evidence was openly available.
Based only on what Namwaya has revealed to the public, Muite owes at least Sh600 million to the National Bank of Kenya (NBK). Apparently, the NBK Managing Director, Reuben Marambi, has not been able to collect a dime from Muite due to political pressure from three cabinet ministers in the Kibaki government. Yet this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Other creditors who have been lining up to auction Muite’s properties and assets include a group called Mwana Mwereri Rironi, Naivasha Farmers Company Limited, Mbagi Limited and Omega Credit Limited. These creditors have also been unable to squeeze anything from Muite because of some questionable legal technicalities and political pressure.
It is reported that such “technicalities” have included some creditors’ inability to attach Muite’s property, firstly because the assets to be attached had also been dubiously but multiply tendered by Muite as collateral to third party creditors; secondly, the same creditors’ inability to have a new panel of judges assigned to hear the case and/or reissue another order for attachment; thirdly, Muite’s successful staying, through a constitutional reference before two “surgically excised” Justices Mbito and Hayanga, an earlier order by the High Court authorizing an auction of his assets; and fourthly, through lots of political pressure and meddling from three cabinet ministers.
In his recently published tome, The Great War for Civilization, Robert Fisk - the magnificent British war correspondent - has quoted the brilliant Israeli journalist, Amira Hass of the Ha’aretz newspaper, as saying that “a journalist’s job is to monitor the centres of power.” To Ms. Hass, a journalist’s role goes beyond mere “reporting;” it must include the interrogation, challenge and question of authority, especially those in or close to the “centres of power” like Paul Muite.
Journalists should not just try to be impartial witnesses to history and events. They should not be contented by simply reporting history as it happens; they ought to subject what they are observing to deliberate and relentless challenge. And that is what Namwaya has accomplished in his expose.
However, the group that is required to govern Muite’s conduct is the LSK. As a self-regulating professional group, lawyers’ conduct in Kenya is supposed to be kept in check by the LSK. The LSK’s primary role is to protect the public from rogue conduct by its members. It does this by ensuring that its members are properly trained and uphold the highest ethical standards in both private life and professional practice. Dishonourable or questionable conduct on the part of a lawyer in any situation (private or professional) reflects adversely upon the integrity of the profession and the administration of justice. If the conduct, whether within or outside the professional sphere, is such that knowledge of it would be likely to impair the client’s trust in the lawyer, the LSK should be justified in taking disciplinary action against the lawyer whose conduct is in question, including but not limited to disbarment.
The case of Mwana Mwereri Rironi and Naivasha Farmers Company Limited is a compelling case of real estate fraud against Muite that should be urgently addressed by the LSK, the Kenya Police and other anti-corruption agencies. According to Namwaya’s report, Muite, through his law firm, Muite Company Advocates received Sh24.1 million, in trust, from the two groups under the pretext that he would act as an Advocate for the owner, a company called Athi Holdings, in order to facilitate closing transactions.
Both Mwana Mwereri Rironi and Naivasha Farmers Company Limited paid Sh24.1 million to Muite, to hold in trust, pending the finalization of the purchase and sale transaction of a piece of land called Segera/Mukenya Ranch LR No. 9387. Although Muite had alleged that this piece of land was for sale and received Sh24.1 million from the purchasers precisely for that purpose, he later claimed that the land was subject of a civil dispute and that the purchasers should wait. However, the purchasers subsequently discovered that a company called Von Vile Enterprises had already sold the same piece of land to others and demanded a full refund of their money from Muite.
By this time, Muite had already committed both a serious criminal offense and an unethical conduct of trying to sell land that he either knew or ought to have known had already been sold. When Muite took Sh24.1 million from the two groups, he knew or ought to have known that the piece of land was no longer available for sale. His attempt to mislead both groups about the existence of land for sale when there was none means that Muite’s sole intention was to take possession of the funds given to him and irregularly convert it into his own. Clearly, he had no land for sale to offer the two groups and as such had no legitimate grounds for holding their money.
It is quite deplorable that Muite not only took possession of and withheld these two groups’ money (which he was not legally entitled to except through this devious scheme), but he has either failed or refused to return the money as well. Even scarier is the fact that in stead of being charged, convicted, sentenced, disbarred and forced to pay compensation to his innocent victims, Muite has been sheltered, protected and coddled by the powers that be – from the LSK to the government of Kenya – Muite has only received familiar smooches on the back.
There must be somewhere among the LSK rules one about a lawyer’s duty to safeguard, preserve and account for clients’ monies and other property as a careful and prudent owner would when dealing with like property, and to observe all relevant rules and law about preservation of clients’ property entrusted to a lawyer. Muite’s multiple issuance of bad cheques to both Mwana Mwereri and Naivasha Farmers Company is, prima facie, proof of misappropriation, breach of trust and fraud. Had Muite preserved the funds the way he was supposed to, all his cheques would not have been dishonoured. But even then, he would still have had a case to answer for trying to sell a non-existent land.
To think that this is the man that Kiraitu Murungi was haggling for and lobbying to be appointed a cabinet minister shows, beyond doubt, how irredeemable both our politicians and lawyers have become. Shame!
______________________________________________________________________
*The writer is a Barrister & Solicitor in Toronto, Canada