Meet the judges delivering the BBI verdict

Here is a look at the seven Court of Appeal judges who are giving their judgment on the Building Bridges Initiative.

Justice Daniel Musinga

He is the Court of Appeal president. He was admitted to the bar in 1988. He served in the tribunal that was investigating the conduct of suspended high court judges in 2003.

He was appointed judge of the High Court in October 2003 and posted to Nakuru where he remained until December 2007 but also served in Kisii.

In November 2010, he was appointed a judge at the Constitutional and Judicial Review Division in the High Court in Nairobi and among his notable decisions was the permanent injunction against the defunct Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission from publishing a list of new electoral constituencies.

He also quashed the controversial appointment of Justice Alnashir Visram and lawyer Githu Muigai as Chief Justice and Attorney General, respectively by President Mwai Kibaki during the coalition government.

He had also stopped then President Mwai Kibaki from creating new districts in 2009. In 2011, he was declared the Jurist of the Year the Kenyan Section of The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya).

Justice Roselyne Nambuye

Born in May 1952, Justice Nambuye has just about nine months to retire. The BBI decision could be her major one before she bows out after 41 years in the judiciary which she joined in 1980 as a District Magistrate. She was admitted to the bar in 1977.

Before joining the bench she served in the provincial administration as District Officer between 1976 and 1980. She holds two masters degrees both from the University of Nairobi - Masters in International Conflict Management and an LLM in Public International Law.

She was appointed a judge of the High Court in 1991, becoming the third female judge in the High Court of Kenya. She ascended to the Court of Appeal in 2011 where she has served to date.

There have been two unsuccessful attempts to cut short her career at the judiciary: first by the Ringera Committee in 2003 (the radical surgery) and by the Sharad Rao-led Vetting Board. In both cases she challenged the decisions that found her unfit to continue serving. 

Justice Hannah Okwengu

Justice Okwengu was admitted to the bar in 1980. She has spent most her professional life in public service, starting out as a land registrar in Mombasa, then an advocate at then Municipal Council of Mombasa.

She worked at the firm of S.K. Mwangi & Co. Advocates for about a year before joining the judiciary as an acting Resident Magistrate in October 1983 and moved up the ranks to the position of Chief Magistrate in 1999.

She was appointed as an Assistant Director of the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA) for a five-year term but left just two years into her tenure when the High Court declared KACA unconstitutional.

She returned to the judiciary and was appointed judge of the High Court in May 2003. She was appointed judge of the Court of Appeal in 2011. She was the recipient of the Law Society of Kenya Award for distinguished service in the Administration of Justice for the year 1998

Justice Patrick Kiage

Born on September 6, 1969 in Kisii County, Justice Kiage was admitted to the bar in 1993 and he has been judge of Appeal since November 2012 having come from private practice.

Between 1997 and 2012, he was the managing partner at Kiage & Co. Advocates. Before joining the bench, he was also a regular commentator on law and governance subjects on local media.

An alumnus of Alliance High School Justice Kiage holds a Master of Laws degree in Public Service Law from New York University majoring in Human Rights and Criminal Justice. In 2007 he was appointed as a special prosecutor in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

He has also taught Criminal Procedure and Practice, and Family Law at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) as well as Trial Advocacy at the Kenya School of Law.

Justice Gatembu Kairu

Born in July 1960, Justice Gatembu Kairu has been judge of appeal since November 2012. Before that he was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Commercial Law Department, at the Faculty of Law.

He was admitted to the bar in 1985 and worked at Hamilton Harrison & Mathews Advocates and Kimani Kairu & Company Advocates as an associate.

He then became a partner at Kairu & McCourt Advocates. He undertook civil litigation in the High Court and the sub-ordinates courts and the Court of Appeal as well as arbitration proceedings in banking, commercial insurance law and arbitration.

He holds a Masters of Laws in banking law from Boston University USA; a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma from the Kenya School of Law.

At the University of Nairobi, he taught Alternative Dispute Resolution, civil procedure and practice, banking law, law of torts, and law of international institutions among others.

Justice Fatuma Sichale

Justice Sichale started out as a magistrate after her admission to the bar in 1983 and rose to resident magistrate in 1987. After years in private practice and in the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) and Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA), she returned to the judiciary where her professional journey began.

Born in 1958 in Trans Nzoia County, Justice Sichale worked as a board member of the defunct KACA before it was disbanded. When KACC was established, she was taken on board by retired judge Aaron Ringera as the vice-chairman. She rose to be assistant director and eventually the deputy director before resigning in October 2009.

She was appointed judge of the Court of Appeal in November 2012. Justice Sichale was in the bench alongside Erastus Githinji who has since retired and Martha Koome who is now the Chief Justice that controversially sat late in the evening on a public holiday in 2017 and without the clearance of the Chief Justice to overturn the High Court ruling that found the appointment of IEBC returning officers and their deputies illegal. 

 Justice Francis Tuiyott

Among the seven judges who form the bench that heard the BBI appeal, Justice Tuiyott would be considered the last born having been appointed to the Court of Appeal in June this year.

He was among the 34 judges President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed as he left out six other nominees. Justice Tuiyott was admitted to the bar in 1991 and joined AGN Kamau Advocates as an associate between 1991 and 1993. Between 1993 and 2011, he worked with Maraga & Co. Advocates and also Nyaundi Tuiyott & Co Advocates.

He served as chairman of the Sugar Arbitration Tribunal from 2010 to 2011 before his appointment as judge of the High Court in August 2011.

He holds a Masters of Laws degree from the University of London, a Bachelors of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi and a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law.

The lawyers

For BBI (For President Uhuru Kenyatta)

• Waweru Gatonye
• Desterio Oyatsi
• Mohammed Nyaoga

For Raila Odinga

• James Orengo
• Amollo Otiende
• Paul Mwangi
• Jackson Awele
• Ben Sihanya
• Arnold Oginga

For IEBC

• Prof Githu Muigai
• Eric Gumbo

For Attorney General

• George Oraro
• Ken Ogeto
• Paul Nyamodi
• Ken Nyaundi
• Kamau Karori
• Emmanuel Bita
• Donald Kipkorir    

Lawyers representing parties against the BBI

For David Ndii and four others

• Nelson Havi
• Esther Ang’awa etc

For Thirdway Alliance 

• Elias Mutuma

For Katiba Institute/Kituo Cha Sheria/KHC

• Dr John Khaminwa
• Dr Muthomi Thiankolu
• Prof Kithure Kindiki
• Elisha Ongoya

Other lawyers involved in the case

Charles Kanjama, Ochiel Dudley appearing for Jack Mwimali -- an amicus.

Download a copy of the BBI report here: bbi-report