‘Village of judges’ – Little-known ward home of distinguished legal brains in Kenya

The nomination of Court of Appeal Judge William Ouko as Supreme Court judge has thrust the little-known Yimbo West ward in Siaya county into the limelight as the home of distinguished legal brains in Kenya.

To the nation, the nomination of Justice Ouko to replace Supreme Court judge Jackton Ojwang may be just an elevation to a higher position, but to the small town of Usenge, and specifically, Yimbo West ward in Bondo sub-county, it is a celebration of yet another legal brain from the 'village of judges'. 

News of Justice Ouko’s nomination threw his Usenge village into excitement. Yimbo West has produced brilliant legal minds and prominent personalities whose names have raised the stature of the sleepy town.

The area boasts of judges and legal minds starting with Justice Ouko, who hails from the Goye clan, Court of Appeal Judge Hannah Okwengu from Honge Beach and retired judge Andrew Hayanga, who hails from Misori.

Also from Goye is orator and brilliant advocate Patrick Loch Odhiambo (PLO) Lumumba and the late Martin Otieno Opiacha, a distinguished legal brain and one of the lawyers who defended soldiers implicated in the 1982 attempted coup.

When many kept off for fear of the consequences, Mr Opiacha, Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula, former Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara, and Mr Odinga’s lawyer in the 2013 presidential election petition, Mr George Oraro, represented the accused soldiers.

Usenge is also the home of Prophet David Owuor, Prof Adams Oloo, a political scientist, lecturer at the University of Nairobi and vice chairman of the Building Bridges Initiative Task Force and the late scholar, Prof William Ochieng.   

Almost all these prominent people went to Usenge Primary School.

Dr Dan Bondi Ogolla, former director Legal Affairs at the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat is one of the personalities who inspired Justice Ouko and PLO Lumumba, as well as others from the area to study law.

“Mr Opiacha and I were the first people from Usenge area to study law, having studied in the same primary school, Usenge. What William told me is that I inspired him and PLO to study law and we might have contributed in their journey to where they were,” said Dr Bondi.

He confesses that they did not know there were other young men who were looking up to them to grow in their career and he attributes the growing number of distinguished scholars and judges to the good teachers at Usenge primary school.

Dr Bondi, who was senior lecturer in Public Law at the University of Nairobi between 1983 and 1992, told the Nation his first class at the university had Justice Ouko, Chief Justice nominee Martha Koome, Justice Patricia Mbote and Court of Appeal Judge Sankale Ole Kantai.

When the Nation visited the home of the nominee to the Supreme Court judge position, who is named after the father of former Auditor-General Edward Ouko, we didn't find anyone. It was awfully quiet, against our expectation of celebrations following the news the community had received two days ago. 

But at the main bus terminus and the market, the excitement was evident.

At Usenge market, we met 78-year-old John Richard Wambura, Justice Ouko's uncle. He recalled their appetite for books at a tender age which he believes kept them away from farms and hard labour to pursue education. This he says, contributed a lot to the brains we see from Yimbo.

“Our parents and their peers did not want their sons to go around herding cattle or fishing. They insisted that they go to school and that is why many produced engineers and the legal minds you see around,” said Mr Wambura.

He, however, raised concern that there were few doctors from the region, urging the younger generation to take up the challenge to “balance the equation”.

Mr Wambura says people from Usenge love the good life, and dress well and will always stand out in social circles.

“Our pride is usually misconstrued as show off, but it is just a way of being proud of our successful people,” he said.

“We will shout it out everywhere like in this case, it is a fact that we have judges from our area with the latest being the Supreme Court judge nominee,” said Mr Wambura.

Mr Ouko’s uncle, who was also a member of the committee that organised the homecoming of Justice Ouko when he was appointed president of the Court of Appeal, says a bigger event will certainly be held in Justice Ouko’s honour. 

Mrs Florence Adoyo Otieno, 61, and her sister Rose Akoth Omollo, Mr Ouko’s classmates at Usenge Primary, described Mr Ouko as a humble quiet person, whose first love was books. 

"Ouko never engaged in any co-curricular activities. He was a bookworm, always studying even when we were going for sports. As former classmates we are really proud of him," said Mrs Otieno.

The locals now hope with the influx of judges and presence of the Supreme Court judge in their locality, a court will be established at Usigu, to handle legal issues in the area and also reduce the money and time they spend travelling to Bondo to get services. 

Justice Ouko was born in Siaya County in 1961 and went to Usenge Primary School.

He graduated with Bachelor of Laws from University of Nairobi in 1986. The judge joined the Judiciary as District Magistrate II in 1987 and later served as a Deputy registrar, senior Deputy registrar and principal deputy registrar between 1990 and 1997.

For the next five years up to 2002 he served as Chief Court Administrator and Registrar of the High Court between 2002 and 2004.

From 2004 to 2012, the celebrated judge served in Malindi, Meru and Nakuru High Courts before he was elevated to the Court of Appeal.

He later graduated with a Master of Arts in criminology and criminal justice from Egerton University in 2016.

In 2018, he was appointed the president of the Court of Appeal until two days ago when he was nominated to the position of the judge of the Supreme Court.