Willy Munyoki Mutunga, born, 16 June 1947 in Kitui District, Eastern Kenya is a Kenyan lawyer, intellectual, reform activist, and, since June 2011, he has served as the first Chief Justice of Kenya and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya under the new constitution.
1.Hon. Willy has jumped many hurdles to sit as the head of one of the biggest institution in the Country.With few days left for him to step out of office, an earlier retirement, we thought you should know some facts about him:
2.He lost all his parents in 1980’s and had to work harder to take care of the family, he had received his Doctorate of Laws from the Osgoode Hall Law School then.
3.Willy became the first indigenous Kenyan to teach constitutional law at the university level in Nairobi University.
4.Mutunga, a no stranger to controversies, went to the panel vetting him as he applied for the Chief Justice post ,wearing a stud on his ear a practice which in Kenya is associated with the abhorred men who are not straight. Mutunga asserted that the earring was a source of ancestral inspiration and not related to his sexuality.
5.Hon. Mutunga has had two wives in different relationships , all of whom he has divorced but one case , of his second wife Prof. Beverle Michele Lax, who accused Willy Mutunga of being a “pathological liar” who “kept an open relationship with his former wife” and “concealed the existence of his relationship with women whom he had sired children with”. is still in court up to date.
6.He has been into many religions from starting as a practiotioner of African religion,a baptized Protestant and later to a Roman Catholic and the list may continue.
7.Hon. Mutunga, yesterday (Sunday) in closing remarks, visited Korogocho and interacted with the public in the social hall. He refuted claims that he is retiring earlier so as to run for presidency ,he cited that he is ‘too old’ for alot of work which could ‘kill him’
8.He also said that he is not running away from any Cartel after he had earlier in his Judicial heydays, claimed that Kenya is being run by Cartels.
9.It is Quite ironic that the Supreme Court head and judge has decided to retire at 69,before the retirement age while others are fighting tooth and nail to elongate their retirement ages which have already elapsed.
10.Mutunga will be remembered for the historic judgement on the election petition in 2013 and for reforming the Judiciary for a smooth flow of justice.
