I almost felt sorry for Mr Francis Muthaura. Last week, the head of the Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet cut a hapless and rather bewildered figure trying to extricate himself from a damaging voice recording that caught him saying pretty interesting things.
The quintessential civil servant — indeed the perfect civil servant — Mr Muthaura is the slight, self-effacing, grey man in a grey suit who would seem completely out of his depth when entangled in the vicious and no-holds-barred fisticuffs of the political arena.
Yet behind that demeanour more suited to a backroom clerical officer lies a steely resolve, efficient bureaucrat with connections in all the right places that has helped him ascend to the apex of the civil service and one of the most powerful offices in the country.
That is why it so difficult to understand why a man who has risen to such a powerful office allowed himself to be caught in one of the cheapest scams around.
He allowed some dubious strangers right into his Harambee House office, a place not ordinarily accessible to just any Mr M’Mordinary.
He then proceeded to open up to his newfound friends in very candid fashion. He talked openly to the complete strangers, as he would have us believe, on matters touching on his best lines of defence and the media counter-offensive on being named as one of ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s suspects in the post-election violence.
It is quite extraordinary that a person who has risen to the apex of public service because of being cautious would allow himself to be set up in such fashion.
How Mr Muthaura allowed complete strangers into his inner sanctum and shared with them tales that should strictly be reserved for his lawyers or very close confidants remains quite a mystery.
If Mr Muthaura could be that careless, given the sensitivity of the issue, then he deserves what he got. The press conference he called last week to pre-empt release of his recorded conversation from that fateful encounter left more questions than answers.
He did not explain how strangers accessed his office and how he engaged them in frank conversation as if they were long-time friends.
He conceded giving the characters quite a substantial amount of cash, but refusal to reveal the amount and the real purpose can only give way to suspicion that it was much more than would be required for “lunch”.
He refused to explain exactly what was discussed during the encounter or to provide a recording of the conversation to prove his claim that a doctored version was doing the rounds.
After watching that press conference and subsequent developments, I concluded that Mr Muthaura was either very naive and foolish for getting himself entangled in such a matter, or trying to get out of a fix by telling some very big lies.
Whatever the case, he got himself snookered right and proper.
But that still does not provide any excuse for the rather despicable tactic adopted by a clutch of ODM legislators who found the perfect opportunity to launch an offensive against Mr Muthaura.
It was joint coalition government whip Jakoyo Midiwo who gleefully distributed to the media the taped recording of Mr Muthaura’s conversation with his visitors. Mr Midiwo also, rather helpfully, provided a typed transcript of the discussion.
But then, not any cleverer than his target, the Chief Whip neglected to “synchronise” the voice recording with the transcript. To put it plainly, the transcript was doctored as it contained words not in the actual recording.
Mr Midiwo gave out a transcript that put invented words in Mr Muthaura’s mouth, the most damaging being that the public service boss instructed the police not to interfere with Mungiki gangs that were executing deadly revenge attacks during the post-election crisis.
I suppose that in politics there is nothing like foul play, but that faked transcript was like scoring an own goal. It proves Mr Muthaura’s contention of a doctored tape recording. It also has the effect of helping put the gloss over other objectionable or self-incriminating words that Mr Muthaura may have uttered.
Looks like he has a lot for which to be grateful to Mr Midiwo.
mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com.
The quintessential civil servant — indeed the perfect civil servant — Mr Muthaura is the slight, self-effacing, grey man in a grey suit who would seem completely out of his depth when entangled in the vicious and no-holds-barred fisticuffs of the political arena.
Yet behind that demeanour more suited to a backroom clerical officer lies a steely resolve, efficient bureaucrat with connections in all the right places that has helped him ascend to the apex of the civil service and one of the most powerful offices in the country.
That is why it so difficult to understand why a man who has risen to such a powerful office allowed himself to be caught in one of the cheapest scams around.
He allowed some dubious strangers right into his Harambee House office, a place not ordinarily accessible to just any Mr M’Mordinary.
He then proceeded to open up to his newfound friends in very candid fashion. He talked openly to the complete strangers, as he would have us believe, on matters touching on his best lines of defence and the media counter-offensive on being named as one of ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s suspects in the post-election violence.
It is quite extraordinary that a person who has risen to the apex of public service because of being cautious would allow himself to be set up in such fashion.
How Mr Muthaura allowed complete strangers into his inner sanctum and shared with them tales that should strictly be reserved for his lawyers or very close confidants remains quite a mystery.
If Mr Muthaura could be that careless, given the sensitivity of the issue, then he deserves what he got. The press conference he called last week to pre-empt release of his recorded conversation from that fateful encounter left more questions than answers.
He did not explain how strangers accessed his office and how he engaged them in frank conversation as if they were long-time friends.
He conceded giving the characters quite a substantial amount of cash, but refusal to reveal the amount and the real purpose can only give way to suspicion that it was much more than would be required for “lunch”.
He refused to explain exactly what was discussed during the encounter or to provide a recording of the conversation to prove his claim that a doctored version was doing the rounds.
After watching that press conference and subsequent developments, I concluded that Mr Muthaura was either very naive and foolish for getting himself entangled in such a matter, or trying to get out of a fix by telling some very big lies.
Whatever the case, he got himself snookered right and proper.
But that still does not provide any excuse for the rather despicable tactic adopted by a clutch of ODM legislators who found the perfect opportunity to launch an offensive against Mr Muthaura.
It was joint coalition government whip Jakoyo Midiwo who gleefully distributed to the media the taped recording of Mr Muthaura’s conversation with his visitors. Mr Midiwo also, rather helpfully, provided a typed transcript of the discussion.
But then, not any cleverer than his target, the Chief Whip neglected to “synchronise” the voice recording with the transcript. To put it plainly, the transcript was doctored as it contained words not in the actual recording.
Mr Midiwo gave out a transcript that put invented words in Mr Muthaura’s mouth, the most damaging being that the public service boss instructed the police not to interfere with Mungiki gangs that were executing deadly revenge attacks during the post-election crisis.
I suppose that in politics there is nothing like foul play, but that faked transcript was like scoring an own goal. It proves Mr Muthaura’s contention of a doctored tape recording. It also has the effect of helping put the gloss over other objectionable or self-incriminating words that Mr Muthaura may have uttered.
Looks like he has a lot for which to be grateful to Mr Midiwo.
mgaitho@ke.nationmedia.com.
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