John Harun Mwau

John Harun Mwau (born 24 June 1948) is a Kenyan businessman and politician. He is the former Member of Parliament for Kilome Constituency. He was the first director of the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority[1] but was removed after a year when a tribunal ruled that he was unfit to hold the office.[2]

Hon. Harun Mwau

Harun Mwau is the founding chairman Party of Independent Candidates of Kenya (PICK) and ran as a Presidential Candidate in the 1992 Kenyan general election.[3] Mwau polled 10,449 votes and later petitioned the High Court to declare him the only validly nominated candidate, as other candidates did not present the list of supporters nominating them using the correct paper size. The case was dismissed by the High Court.[4]

Prior to his career as a politician, he was a sports shooter and competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics and the 1972 Summer Olympics.[5]

Controversy

Drug trafficking accusations

In 2011, the United Stated designated Harun Mwau, who was MP at the time, on a list of seven “narcotic kingpins”. Under this legislation, American assets are frozen, and access to the American financial system is denied.[6][7] Harun Mwau has been cited as one of "the more powerful and active narcotics traffickers in the region" by the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of Treasury.[8] Harun Mwau has been denying the charges[6][8] and says that the United States government is attempting to seize his businesses, which are estimated to be worth $750 million.[9]

Litigations

In 2005, Harun Mwau sued the Nation Media group for an alleged defamatory article which implicated him in a tax evasion scandal.[10] The same year, he filed four suits against the senior executives and editors of Kenya’s leading media houses to permanently bar the media from publishing reports linking him to drug trafficking.[11] In 2011, Harun Mwau sued the United States Ambassador Michael Ranneberger for associating him to narcotic drug trafficking.[12]  In 2013, he sued a student over a Facebook post linking him to the murder of Internal Security minister, George Saitoti.[13] In 2014, he sued the author of a report from the International Peace Institute, where his designation by the US government as a foreign narcotics kingpin was mentioned.[14] In 2017, he sued the authors of two blog posts which link him to a businessman believed to be close to Colombia’s drug cartels.[15] The same year, he sued the Kenyan Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for "intending to conduct a fresh presidential election without nominations".[16]

2013 election

Mwau vied for senatorial position for Makueni in 2013 Election. He was defeated by Mutula Kilonzo[17]

CandidatePartyVote
Kiki MulwaNARC2,668
Harun MWauPICK51,162
Mutula KilonzoWIper193,539
Muthoka KatumoIndependent2,459
Rejected1,544
Vote Cast251,363

2013 Makueni by-election

Mutula Kilonzo Jnr a son of former senator Mutula Kilonzo of Wiper Democratic Party won 163,232 votes to win the Makueni Senate seat in the 2013 by-election. Mwau therefore has lost senatorial election to father and son in a span of 5 month.[18]

CadindatePartyVotes
Mutula Kilonzo JnrWiper163,232
John H. MwauPICK6,431
Philip KalokiNARC9,762
Katumo UrbanusIndependent517
Kitundu JaneLabour387
Rejected
Total Cast180,329

Makueni by-election, the first after the 4 March 2013 general election, was occasioned by the death of Mutula Kilonzo on 27 April 2013. The voter turnout was 60.4%.

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Rubenfeld, Samuel (6 June 2011). "John Harun Mwau's Short-Lived Tenure As Anti-Corruption Head". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 December 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Kamau, John (7 November 2017). "Mwau: Astute businessman who ruffled Nyachae's feathers". Nation. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  5. "John Harun Mwau". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  6. "The Smack Track". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  7. "US Names Kenyan Politician Drug 'Kingpin'". Voice of America. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  8. "US targeted Mwau over Sh6b drugs". Nation. 28 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  9. "Obama wants to kill me over Sh50bn empire: Mwau". Nation. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  10. Ogutu, Judy (9 March 2005). "Kenya: Mwau Sues 'Nation' for Sh1 Billion". AllAfrica. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  11. Ogutu, Judy (5 January 2005). "Kenya: Cocaine: Mwau Bid to Gag Media". AllAfrica. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  12. Chepkemei, Pamela (6 April 2011). "Kenya: MP Mwau Sues Ranneberger Over Drugs". AllAfrica. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  13. Limo, Lucianne (21 May 2013). "Student charged over Facebook post linking Harun Mwau to George Saitoti's death". The Standard. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  14. Ngetich, Peter (4 March 2014). "Kenya: Mwau Wants His Name Out of Drugs Report". AllAfrica. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  15. "Harun Mwau sues bloggers over drugs trade link". Business Daily. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  16. "Mwau sues in push for nominations ahead of poll". Business Daily. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  17. IEBC. "Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission". www.iebc.or.ke. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  18. 2013 IEBC By Election
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