Stanley Murage is a less-known name in the country's political history due to his background roles, both in retired President Daniel Moi and his successor Mwai Kibaki's government.
Murage was a permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport in 1994 but was dropped along with eleven of his colleagues in September 1999, before he made a comeback in Kibaki's Government in 2004.
He was appointed as Kibaki's personal assistant and later acted as a chief strategist in the run-up to 2007 General Election, when the fractures in their previously close relationship began to show.
Reports from Daily Nation on March 31, 2019, indicate that when the 2007 post-election violence broke out, there were calls for Kibaki and his arch-nemesis, Raila Odinga, to come together for the sake of the country's peace and progress.
While Kibaki was not keen on the idea, his aide, Murage, went ahead and declared that he was in favour of a power-sharing agreement, much to the chagrin of the officials around Kibaki.
He was acrimoniously fired by the president who felt that his PA's proximity to power was threatening plans by his Party of National Unity's (PNU) to retain the presidency.
All his troubles were caused by the then US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger who saw Murage as an easy link to Kibaki, when was seen to have been unreachable at that time.
The publication reported that Kibaki was barely, if ever, seen with his phone in public, in effect making Murage the easiest route to accessing the president.
The State House insider's efforts paid off even in his absence, when the president and Odinga finally buried the hatchet and signed the National Accord, bringing an end to bloody chaos that took the lives of thousands and displaced even more.
Murage made a comeback when he took the role of an advisor on policy and Programmes in 2018 after Kibaki engineered a shake-up in his office to enhance service delivery.
