David Kenani Maraga was born on January 12, 1951, in Bonyamatuta, Nyamira County of Kenya. His education shaped a lifelong devotion to the law.
Background • Sironga DEB Primary School, Maranda High School, Kisii High School • Bachelor of Laws, University of Nairobi (1977) • Master of Laws, University of Nairobi • Diploma in Legal Practice, Kenya School of Law • Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), London • Over 25 years as a private lawyer in Nakuru before joining the bench
Unshakable integrity and faith
• During his 2012 vetting, he swore he had never taken a bribe, a tribute to his integrity • At his CJ interview, he pledged to serve "in obedience to God's Command and Will, and guided by the Constitution... with dedication, honesty and integrity."
Judicial decisions — and why they mattered
• He personally authored over 1,250 Court of Appeal judgments, a body of work cited as proof of work ethic and consistency. • The 2017 election annulment: as Chief Justice, he led the Supreme Court's majority decision annulling President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election, declaring the results "invalid, null and void." The first such ruling against a sitting president anywhere in Africa. Its significance went beyond one election: it established that Kenya's courts would enforce constitutional standards for elections rather than simply ratify outcomes, regardless of who held power. • He advised the President to dissolve Parliament over its failure to meet the constitutional two-thirds gender rule, enforcing a provision past governments had quietly ignored. • Restored Kenya's power to fight piracy: he led a five-judge bench that overturned a 2010 ruling denying Kenyan courts jurisdiction over piracy cases, restoring the legal tools needed to prosecute Somali pirates and protect regional maritime security. • Won justice for retired teachers: he ruled that retired teachers were entitled to Sh42.3 billion in pension arrears from a 1997 salary agreement, securing the retirement dues of thousands who had waited over a decade. • Checked monopoly in broadcasting: he sat on a bench that revoked a single digital broadcasting licence awarded to Pan-African Network Group and KBC's Signet subsidiary, a ruling aimed at preventing unfair market dominance. • Wisdom that weighed humanity alongside the law: he sat on benches that spared an 81-year-old man sentenced to hang for killing a brother who had insulted him, and that overturned the conviction of a mother who beat her 14-year-old daughter to death with a bicycle chain after the girl eloped. These rulings supporters cite as evidence of careful scrutiny of evidence and context over public outrage. • Amongst many other significant rulings…
Institutional reforms as Chief Justice
• Oversaw the creation of the Environment and Land Court, the Employment and Labour Relations Court, and the Anti-Corruption Court. • Introduced digital case e-filing and cleared major case backlogs. • Chaired the Judiciary Committee on Elections, ensuring all 2013 election petitions were resolved within strict statutory timelines — groundwork that later underpinned the judiciary's handling of the 2017 petition. • Chaired a presidential tribunal that recommended the removal of a High Court judge implicated in compromising a Goldenberg-related judgment. • Chaired the national taskforce on police reforms. • Served as chairperson of the Rift Valley Law Society (1987–1989).
A Fearless Leader: checks the Executive and JSC
• Confronted President Kenyatta over stalled JSC judge appointments, calling cherry-picking a threat to judicial independence • Said Parliament should have moved to remove the President for ignoring constitutional appointment duties • Joined former CJ Mutunga in protesting the President's refusal to promote six JSC-recommended judges
Post-CJ honours
• Honorary doctorates from Daystar University, Adventist University of Africa, and Andrews University (USA) • Honorary Doctor of Laws from Kabarak University (2023) • ICJ-Kenya Jurist of the Year (2017) • CB Madan Award (2017) • Law Society of Kenya Distinguished Service Award (2018) • Elder of the Golden Heart (EGH) state honour • 2023 MNTO Lifetime Achievement Award
Activism & Advocacy since leaving office
• Maraga chaired the National Taskforce on Police Reforms, reviewing the National Police Service, Prisons Service, and National Youth Service, and submitted 598 recommendations addressing underfunding, corruption, weak leadership, and poor human capital management. By March 2026, about 55% of these reforms had been implemented, including salary reviews, recruitment, and infrastructure upgrades. • Criticized Corruption ("budgeted corruption") • Supported Strengthening the EACC and DPP • Condemned Police brutality and extra-judicial killings. Joined Gen-Z protests • Called an end to Femicide and gender-based violence • Environmental protection of Nairobi National Park • Supports Devolution and regional equity • Advocated for Safe return of detained activists abroad
A campaign built on listening, not lecturing
What distinguishes Maraga's bid is its method. Rather than launching a presidential campaign from Nairobi boardrooms, he began with nationwide town hall meetings from his home region of Nyamira, telling supporters: "Our country is in a deep crisis. It needs an honest, just, bold and fearless leader."
Since then, he has methodically toured 43 counties, with a stated commitment to traverse all 47 counties and the diaspora to register new voters. This is a candidate building his platform from direct exposure to the realities of ordinary Kenyans, county by county, rather than from assumptions made at the centre.
That grassroots immersion is matched by a people-financed campaign model supporters describe as uniquely clean: over 1,800 Kenyans, including significant diaspora contributors, have already funded the bid through small individual donations, an approach Maraga frames as freeing him from the influence of wealthy financiers who, in his words, expect favours once their candidate is in power.
Combined with his record of standing up to presidents, parliaments, and even his own commission when the Constitution demanded it, this is a man whose campaign is simply an extension of the principles he has lived by for decades.
Kenya's next chapter needs exactly that kind of tested leadership and unshakeable integrity at the helm.