John Githongo

Gìthongo's father Joe Gìthongo owned an accounting firm, President Jomo Kenyatta being one of its clients. John Gìthongo went to the prestigious St. Mary's School in Nairobi. He studied Economics and Philosophy at the University of Wales before returning to his native Kenya. He briefly worked as a management consultant and researcher before moving into journalism. In this role he wrote extensively for the Nairobi-based EastAfrican and Executive magazine, attacking corruption throughout Kenyan society under the Moi regime. He was also a correspondent for the British journal The Economist and wrote for a range of local and international papers as well. In the 1990s he received the CNN African Journalist of the year award (third prize).

Githongo is married to Kenyan performance scholar and oraturist Mshai Mwangola, who holds a doctorate in Performance Studies from Northwestern University.

Throughout the saga allegations about the sophisticated nature of the Githongo recordings and the reason and extent for the involvement of the British Embassy have been subject to rife speculation.

Dr Murungaru, who was also the National Security Minister, maintains that Githongo was and still is a British spy. On 10 February 2006, Murungi issued a statement that was faxed to all Kenyan media houses questioning the intentions and motives of John Githongo, in the form of 36 questions. Minister Murungaru was demoted as a result of Mr. Githongo's allegations and rejected by his own constituents during the 2007 general election. In 2006, Murungaru was banned from all travel to the United Kingdom by the British Home Secretary as a result of his involvement in corruption.

Among the questions asked was why John Githongo was recording his conversations with Government officials and asking how many other conversations he recorded including those with the president. Some who have interviewed Githongo say that in fact the Kibaki knew about and had approved of Githongo's recordings as early as February 2004. Speculation was also rife that Githongo's continued exile was directly related to the spying allegations and the fact that he broke various secrecy laws under the Official Secrets Act, that covered government officials. However, Githongo returned to Kenya in August 2008 and the government did not challenge his allegations or attempt to prosecute him under the Official Secrets Act.