Njoki Susanna Ndung'u is a Kenyan lawyer and a

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

of the

Supreme Court of Kenya The Supreme Court of Kenya is the Supreme court, highest court in Kenya. It is established under Article 163 of the new constitution of Kenya, Kenyan Constitution 2010 As the highest court in the nation, its decisions are binding and set precede ...

. She holds a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(LLB) from

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

and a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(LLM) in human rights and civil liberties from the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

in the United Kingdom. She was born in 1966.

Early career

Njoki, an alumna of The Kenya High School (Class of 1980/82), began her career between 1989 and 1993 at the

Office of the Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

as a state counsel. She later worked as a programme officer (Civic Education) with the Institute For Education in Democracy until 1995, when she moved and worked for one year at

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

Kenya Branch Office as a national protection officer. Between 2000 and 2002 she worked as a political analyst for the

Organization of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

, (OAU).

National Assembly

She served as a National Rainbow Coalition (NARC)-nominated member of Parliament between 2003 and 2007 and served on the following Parliamentary committees: * Departmental Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs * Departmental Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs * Select Committee on the Constitution of Kenya * Committee on Conflict and International Cooperation (PAP) She also moved several private members bills, including: * Motion on Maternity Benefits * Amendments on Maternity and Paternity Rights in Employment Act 2007 * Key human rights amendments to the Refugee Bill * ‘Sexual Offences Bill, 2006’

Sexual Offences Act 2006

She was the architect and mover of the ‘Sexual Offenses Bill, 2006’ which was eventually passed as the Sexual Offences Act 2006.

Supreme Court Judge interviews

In June 2012, she was among 5 justices nominated to the

by the

Judicial Service Commission (Kenya) The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) of Kenya is an independent Commission established under Article 171 of the Constitution of Kenya. Its mandate as stipulated in Article 172 of the Constitution is to promote and facilitate the independence an ...

which had interviewed 25 applicants.

Supreme Court career

When the first round of the presidential election took place on March 4, 2013.

Uhuru Kenyatta Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta ( born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022. The son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, he previously served as Prime Minister of Kenya, Deputy Pri ...

was declared the

president-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Un ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

by the

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in the year 2011 through the making of the Constitution of Kenya. The Commission is responsible for conducting or supervising referen ...

Raila Odinga Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He was the Member of Parliament (Kenya), Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata Constituency from 1992 to 2013 and has ...

challenged this in the

. She was one of the six judges who dismissed the petition on March 30, 2013. At the conclusion of the 2017 presidential election petition, Lady Justice Njoki Ndung'u rendered a dissenting opinion alongside Justice Jacktone Boma Ojwang, citing no evidence to announce the elections as null and void.

References