Aaron Ringera

Aaron Gitonga Ringera is a Kenyan lawyer who served as a judge and as the former director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC).

Career

Ringera has masters and bachelors of law degrees from the University of Nairobi. He also holds a Diploma in International and Comparative Law of Human Rights from Strasbourg. France and studied for a Diploma in Law and Practice at the Kenya School of Law. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, a High Court of Kenya judge and a judge of the Court of Appeal. He has also been the Solicitor-General of Kenya.^[1]

Career.

He was a senior lecturer in the University of Nairobi and taught most of the leading lawyers and was Chairman of the Department of Public Law. He also doubled up as a lawyer in private practice together with Kiraitu Murungi and Gibson Kamau Kuria but when the latter two fell in trouble with the authorities during the "dark era" of Moi, he quit the firm he helped found and instead teamed up with George Oraro and Ambrose Rachier forming a formidable partnership that was a power house in its heyday.

He was later appointed Judge of the High Court in 1994 marking the end of his career as a top lawyer and transitioning to the bench. In 1999, President Daniel Arap Moi elevated him by appointing him to the position of Solicitor-General succeeding Benjamin Kubo who retired.

He became the director of Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA) in March 1999, succeeding the first director John Harun Mwau. The High Court ruled on December 22, 2000 that KACA was unconstitutional.^[2] As a result, the head of Civil Service Richard Leakey asked Ringera to resign, which he did in January 2001.^[3] KACA was succeeded by the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission, which was established in 2003.^[2] Ringera was appointed as the director of KACC in August 2004, despite opposition from the Liberal Democratic Party, which was part of the NARC coalition government.^[4] The director of KACC had the highest salary for a civil servant in Kenya, and enjoyed better salary than the President.^[5]

Ringera was reappointed by President Mwai Kibaki for a second five year term on August 31, 2009.^[6] However, two weeks later the Kenyan parliament voted against the appointment, stating it was not legal as it should have been approved by the parliament^[7] It was the first time in Kenyan history, when the parliament overruled the president. As a result, Ringera resigned on September 30, 2009.^[5] Ringera has answered his critics by stating that he did not have powers to prosecute those accused of corruption.^[8]

See also

• Corruption in Kenya
• Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority
• Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission
• Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission

References