Wanjuki Muchemi. Illustration/Joseph Barasa
Nation Media Group
By WANGUI MAINA
For 10 years, Wanjuki Muchemi served as the
solicitor-general. Few know the role of the solicitor-general, including
Mr Muchemi himself when he was first appointed.
The office works as the principal assistant to the attorney-general and the holder is also the accounting and authorising officer in the State Law Office among other responsibilities.
Appointed in 2003, Mr Muchemi had to transition from 27 years of private practice to assuming his new role as the Solicitor-General.
Many are the times he was in the media for having clashed with other government officials including the director of public prosecutions and his boss, the attorney-general. For him these were spats that come with the job, but were sorted out.
Mr Muchemi, 61, joins a number of former President Mwai Kibaki’s cronies who retired.
The Business Daily spoke with him a day
before his replacement was named. Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta
nominated Njee Muturi to the position. He now awaits vetting.
For Mr Muchemi it is time to take up his new role as the non-executive chairman of technology firm Seven Seas, rebuild his social life as well as oversee the setup of a foundation in memory of his son. Here are the excerpts of the interview.
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Why retire now?
There comes a time. When I joined the public service in 2003 I initially wanted to stay for a one term but I was not released.
I thought in 2008 I should be getting out, but my boss (former President Kibaki) did not release me and asked me to stay on. When my contract ended in May 2012, I was told I had another one.
I negotiated to stay on for only a year. President
Kibaki was leaving after 10 years and I didn’t want to be left behind. I
had other plans.
Close to the date I gave a notice to President
Kenyatta and asked to be released. He asked me to stay on until my
replacement is named.
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