David Maraga

David Kenani Maraga (born 12 January 1951) is a Kenyan lawyer and jurist.

Maraga was born in Bonyamatuta, Nyamira County, on 12 January 1951.

He attended Sironga DEB Primary School from 1961 to 1967 for his Certificate of Primary Education (CPE), Maranda High School from 1968 to 1971 for his East African School Certificate (O Level), and Kisii High School from 1972 to 1973 for his East African Advanced Certificate of Education (A Level).

He studied law at the University of Nairobi, and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws in 1977.

He also holds a post-graduate diploma awarded in 1978 by the Kenya School of Law.

He was admitted to the Kenyan bar in October 1978.

Following his admission to the Kenyan bar in 1978, David Maraga ran a private law practice for over 25 years in Nakuru, specializing in civil and criminal litigation as well as conveyancing.

He served from 1987 to 1989 as the chairperson of the Rift Valley Law Society.

Justice Maraga joined the bench as a High Court Judge in October 2003 having been appointed by President Mwai Kibaki.

Subsequently, he served as a judge of the High Court in Mombasa (2003–2007), Nakuru (2008–2010), and Nairobi (2010–2011).

He also served in various leadership roles, including as the resident judge, High Court of Kenya in Nakuru from May 2009 to August 2010 and as the presiding judge of the Family Division of the High Court in Nairobi from April 2010 to December 2011.

Since he was appointed to a judicial office before the 2010 Constitution of Kenya came into force, Justice Maraga went through the mandatory vetting by the Judges & Magistrates Vetting Board in 2012.

The Vetting Board unanimously declared him fit to continue serving in office, though his vetting took a dramatic twist when he demanded a Bible and swore before the vetting panel that he had never taken a bribe in his judicial career and would never take bribes in future.

He later obtained a Master of Laws from the University of Nairobi in 2011.

He practices the Seventh-day Adventist religion.

He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in January 2012 following an interview process by the Judicial Service Commission.

A year after joining the Court of Appeal, he vied for the position of President of the Court of Appeal, losing by a solitary vote to Justice Paul Kihara Kariuki, who served as the President of the court before his appointment as the Attorney-General.

Justice Maraga served in the Court of Appeal in Nairobi from January 2012 to September 2014, and as the presiding judge of the Court of Appeal in Kisumu from October 2014 until his appointment as the Chief Justice two years later.

Justice Maraga was appointed by retired Chief Justice Willy Mutunga in May 2012 as the vice chair of the Kenya Judiciary Working Committee on Election Preparations (JWCEP) which was constituted to ensure the judiciary was fully prepared to deal in a timely manner, with any disputes that would arise from the March 2013 General Election.

As a result of the committee's work, the judiciary was in position to deal with all election petitions within the strict statutory timelines.

In 2013, the President of Kenya named Justice Maraga as the chair of a tribunal which was constituted to investigate the conduct of High Court Judge Joseph Mutava after the Judicial Service Commission recommended a tribunal to investigate complaints that the Judge had been compromised to deliver a judgment which cushioned Goldenberg suspect Kamlesh Pattni from prosecution over his involvement in the Goldenberg scandal.

The committee was thus reconstituted in August 2015 as a standing Committee and renamed the Judiciary Committee on Elections (JCE) with Justice Maraga as chairperson.

He was the 14th Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya from October 2016 until his retirement in January 2021.

The tribunal's work was delayed when the Judge challenged its constitutionality in the High Court, but was finally able to complete its work in September 2016.

The tribunal submitted a report in September 2016, recommending to the president that Justice Mutava be removed from office for improperly allocating himself the Kamlesh Pattni file when it did not fall under his docket, and proceeding to write a judgment in the case even though the Judicial Service Commission was investigating his conduct.

Following the voluntary early retirement of Dr. Willy Mutunga in June 2016, Justice Maraga was among the ten people who applied to replace him.

Judge Maraga emerged victorious from a list of eminent judges, legal practitioners and scholars, including law professor Makau Mutua, Supreme Court of Kenya Judges Jackton Ojwang and Smokin Wanjala, East Africa Court of Justice Judge Aaron Ringera and his Court of Appeal colleague Alnashir Visram.

During his interview before the Judicial Service Commission, Maraga told the JSC that in accordance with his Seventh Day Adventist faith, he would not work on Saturdays even if there was a need for Supreme Court Judges to handle presidential election disputes that are to be concluded within just 14 days and may require judges to sit on weekends.

"It would be very difficult for me to sit on a Saturday to hear a case," Maraga said to a commission member's question.

"I would rather talk with my colleagues in the court to accommodate me and exempt me from sitting if the hearing extends to a Saturday."

Having been nominated for appointment by the Judicial Service Commission, his name was forwarded to the president, who transmitted it to the National Assembly for vetting before formal appointment.

The National Assembly voted unanimously to approve his appointment as the Chief Justice on 18 October 2016.

He was officially appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta on 19 October 2016, when he took the oath of office as the 14th chief justice of independent Kenya and the second chief justice in Kenya's new constitutional dispensation.

Unlike his predecessor Willy Mutunga, who showed up for his oath wearing a normal suit, Maraga took his oath of office in full judicial regalia, marking the return of colonial-era judicial gowns and wigs, something that CJ Mutunga had worked to eradicate.

Joined by Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu and associate justices Isaac Lenaola and Dr Smokin Wanjala (with Justices Njoki Ndung'u and Prof. J. B. Ojwang' dissenting), Chief Justice David Maraga made history by nullifying the August 2017 presidential election because of illegalities and irregularities that were presented by the petitioners.

President Kenyatta was in the lead with 54% of the vote, but opponent Raila Odinga reported the evidence of the hacking to the Supreme Court.

The Chief Justice ruling acquitted Kenyatta of any misconduct.

The supporters of the president were disappointed with the ruling, while many Kenyans praised the ruling against President Uhuru Kenyatta, and restoring the independence of the judiciary.

Justice Mutava challenged the findings of the tribunal before the Supreme Court but the highest court affirmed his removal in a March 2019 decision.

Justice Maraga abstained from these proceedings at the Supreme Court having chaired the tribunal that recommended the dismissal of the Justice Mutava.