Kenya mourns Paul Kihara Kariuki, the jurist who built the bench
Former Attorney General and retired Court of Appeal President Paul Kihara Kariuki
The death of the former Attorney General and Court of Appeal President has drawn an outpouring of tributes from across Kenya’s political and legal establishment.
By Bethwel Kiprop
Former Attorney General and retired Court of Appeal President Paul Kihara Kariuki died on Tuesday aged 72, triggering an immediate national outpouring of grief from Kenya’s political leadership, the judiciary and the legal fraternity over the loss of one of the country’s most consequential judicial figures.
Chief Justice Martha Koome announced the death on Tuesday, November 3, confirming what his family had communicated privately to colleagues hours earlier. Koome, who is also President of the Supreme Court, did not hold back in her assessment of the man she had served alongside in Kenya’s legal institutions. “Justice Kihara Kariuki was an accomplished jurist, an exemplary judicial leader and a dedicated public servant whose contributions to the administration of justice and the development of Kenya’s legal institutions will remain an enduring part of our institutional history,” she said, extending condolences to his family, friends and all who had worked alongside him across four decades of distinguished service.
President William Ruto mourned Kariuki as an accomplished jurist whose public service strengthened Kenya’s legal and judicial institutions, conveying his sympathies to the family, friends and former colleagues. Ruto drew particular attention to Kariuki’s foundational work in judicial education, noting that his role as founding director of the Judiciary Training Institute — the institution that later became the Kenya Judiciary Academy — had shaped the professional development of generations of Kenya’s judicial officers. “His distinguished service to our nation leaves an indelible mark on our institutions,” Ruto said, speaking on behalf of the Kenyan people.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who had nominated Kariuki as Attorney General in February 2018, described him as a renowned judge and dedicated public servant whose long career as both Attorney General and Court of Appeal President left an enduring mark on Kenya’s judicial and public institutions. Kenyatta, whose administration Kariuki served for the final four years of his public career, prayed for peace and strength for the bereaved family.
The breadth of the tributes reflects the unusual reach of Kariuki’s career. He was not a jurist who occupied one role and left. He shaped institutions at every level he touched. One of his most enduring contributions was his pioneering leadership as founding Director of the Judiciary Training Institute, the predecessor of today’s Kenya Judiciary Academy, an institution that did not exist before he built it. He joined the High Court bench in 2003, was elevated to the Court of Appeal, and went on to become the first judge elected by his peers to serve as President of that court under the 2010 Constitution — a distinction that spoke as much to the respect of his colleagues as to his legal ability. He served as Court of Appeal President from 2013 to 2018 before Kenyatta appointed him as Kenya’s seventh Attorney General, succeeding Professor Githu Muigai. He held that office until October 2022.
Charles Kanjama, Senior Counsel and President of the Law Society of Kenya, expressed the profession’s grief, describing the loss as deeply felt across the entire legal fraternity. The LSK had worked alongside Kariuki at several critical junctures in Kenya’s legal development, and his death leaves a void in the institutional memory of a profession that prizes continuity and mentorship. Lawyers and advocates across the country took to social media yesterday to share personal recollections — of a judge whose courtroom manner was firm but fair, of an Attorney General who engaged on substance rather than politics, and of a legal educator who understood that the quality of justice depended on the quality of those administering it.
Opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka, of the Wiper Patriotic Front, was among the first to issue a formal tribute. “I have learnt with deep sorrow of the death of Justice Paul Kihara Kariuki,” Kalonzo said, describing him as a lawyer who dedicated his working life to the service of the law. “His passing reminds us that institutions are only as strong as the people who choose to serve them honestly,” he added, extending his condolences on behalf of the Wiper Patriotic Front, the Ukombozi Alliance and his family.
Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen also conveyed his condolences, describing Kariuki as a pillar of Kenya’s legal order whose absence would be felt for years. Across government offices, courts and law chambers, flags were lowered and proceedings paused as the news spread through a profession still processing the weight of the loss.
Kariuki’s death marks the loss of a former senior state official whose career placed him at the centre of Kenya’s legal education, judicial administration and government legal affairs — three domains that rarely intersect in a single career, and rarer still in one managed with the consistency and integrity that those who knew him say defined his approach to public service.
He trained judges. He led the court. He advised the government on the law. And in each role, by the account of those who worked alongside him, he brought the same seriousness of purpose to the task. Kenya does not produce that kind of jurist in every generation.
Paul Kihara Kariuki is gone. The bench he helped build endures.
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