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In February 2005, John Githongo resigned his post as Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics in the Office of the President of Kenya. His resignation has been greeted with outcry by the people of Kenya, as well as a host of civil society organisations and governments

Veteran anti-corruption campaigner John Githongo said he "was no longer able to continue serving the government" but at the time of his resignation did not give any further explanation.

The resignation took place amidst deteriorating relations between Kenya and the UK due to allegations of massive looting and grand corruption involving top officials in the Kenyan Government.

In the UK Labour MP Mr McDonnell tabled a private members' motion: "That this House expresses its deep concern at the resignation of Mr John Githongo, Kenya's leading anti corruption official, and is saddened by the apparent descent of sections of the current Kenya Government into the corrupt practices of the past Moi regime; and calls upon the UK government to offer whatever assistance is needed to support a return to the drive against corruption initiated by President Kibaki when he was elected with such public and international support and goodwill."

On the 8th February 2005 the missions of Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America issued a Press Statement calling for the President to "conducts an immediate review of his government's approach in dealing with this crisis and takes early action to restore credibility. It will boost the credibility of NARC's alleged anti-corruption campaign if senior figures are told to step aside to facilitate investigations."