Why Githu Muigai resigned from Uhuru’s government

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday announced the resignation of Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai in a move that many analysts had not seen coming.

While announcing Githu’s exit, the President announced a number of changes in the government’s legal representation.

Court of Appeal President Paul Kariuki Kihara was picked as the new Attorney General while President Kenyatta’s lawyer at the ICC, Ken Ogeto, will become the new Solicitor General.

Njee Muturi, who previously served as the Solicitor General, will now move to State House as the deputy Chief of Staff, while the President’s legal advisor Abdikadir Mohamed was appointed ambassador to South Korea.

Mohamed is a former Member of Parliament and the long-time partner to Ahmednasir Abdullahi – another of President Kenyatta’s lawyers.

The new changes signal a fundamental legal ideology in President Kenyatta’s administration.

Muigai is internationally respected and accomplished legal scholar who has on several occasions fallen out of favour with die-hard Jubilee operatives over his voice of reason and calls for compliance with the law.

The witty professor of law had very few intellectual peers in the current Jubilee government and this may have contributed to his resignation.

Perhaps the only other learned face in this administration has been the Harvard-educated lawyer Abdikadir - who served as Kenyatta's legal advisor.

The fact that the Harvard Law School alumni has also lost his job at State House and nominated as South Korean ambassador suggests that the President is keen on having “yes” men around him as he prepares to serve a second term as an authoritarian.

Many will recall that the newly appointed AG, Mr Kariuki, was blamed for a suspicious court order that was issued on the night of the October 26th election.

Kariuki constituted a bench on a public holiday that overturned a High Court decision declaring appointment of IEBC returning officers illegal.

The developments have also come at a time when the government has disobeyed court orders.

This may have angered professional lawyers with a reputation to protect, and hence the choice of intellectual lightweights as the replacements.