Nairobi — One of the most cynical, but insightful cartoons I have read about lawyers focuses on litigation. The cartoonist sketches two litigants quarrelling over a cow, and while they pull the animal in different directions, the lawyer milks it.

So it is with the Ringera dispute. Some lawyers have come up with interpretations that justify what President Kibaki has done, while others use the same provisions to arrive at opposite interpretations.

Those of us who are not lawyers have raised issues of morality, competence, integrity, consultation and impunity. But as the legal interpretations rage, the President does not have to act. What have not been said much about are some facts about Mr Ringera that are actually in the public domain.

Professional colleagues I have spoken to say Mr Ringera is a brilliant lawyer who has a photographic memory. His student colleagues or fellow lecturers at the University of Nairobi confirm that he never took part in any dissident activities.

One recalls that Nairobi University was a place of dissent in the late 1970s and '80s. It was usually closed by the Moi dictatorship by means of jailing and detaining lecturers and students. In those days of active Special Branch activities, Mr Ringera's file must have reflected these details.

This was not the first time the KACC boss shunned controversy. It will be remembered that as a partner in the firm of Kamau Kuria, Kiraitu and Ringera Advocates, he quit when the firm was involved in high-profile activities of defending detainees.

Indeed, Mr Ringera resigned perhaps for a purpose -- to make it clear to the State that he did not condone the activities of both Mr Kuria and Mr Kiraitu Murungi, dissidents then and who had to flee the country at some point.

That Mr Ringera joined the firm of Oraro and Rachier Advocates after quitting the firm of Kamau Kuria, Kiraitu and Ringera Advocates was proof that he wanted to be a partner in a firm that was beyond reproach in matters of dissent against the State.

The rest, as they say, is history. He later joined various institutions of State and rose to be solicitor-general and judge. His loyalty to the State could never be in doubt.

The Ringera report that resulted in the infamous radical surgery in the Judiciary still stirs a lot of negative energy within the legal circles. Questions have been raised whether or not, in his investigation, he was subject to political and judicial manipulation to achieve certain ends. The "surgery" is a subject that will not go away any time soon.

One issue that has not been covered by the Press is the role Mr Ringera played to silence the Law Society of Kenya chaired by Mr Paul Muite. Mr Muite's inaugural speech was pro-reform, urging the government to register Jaramogi Oginga Odinga's New Development Party.

Lawyers who were at the LSK dinner at a Nairobi hotel tell interesting stories of judges and lawyers leaving their plates full of food and driving off.

In a case brought to court by four lawyers to stop LSK from "engaging in politics", Mr Ringera was the first plaintiff.

He was then a partner in the Oraro and Rachier Advocates company. The genesis of this case was later disclosed in an affidavit filed by Ms Nancy Baraza -- a partner in the firm.

It may be an interesting story for an investigative journalist to peruse the entire court file against LSK. Almost the entire LSK council was found guilty of contempt of court and fined Sh10,000 each.

LSK council members sued alongside Mr Muite included vice-chairman Willy Mutunga and members Martha Karua, Charles Nyachae, George Benedict and Maina Kariuki (now a judge).

These interesting facts about Mr Ringera are in the public domain. They may explain why the KACC chief is such a prized candidate for his current position. He has no history of challenging the status quo, and has a clear history of being anti-reform; he simply slays dragons of change.