Martha Koome is the current chief justice of Kenya. Her real name is Martha Karembu Koome. She is an advocate of the high court and she is the first woman in Kenya to hold the office of Chief Justice. Chief Justice is the head of the Judiciary which is the arm of government dealing with legal issues within the country. A chief justice sits at the Supreme Court of Kenya together with other six judges and he or she is the head.
Martha Koome was born on 3rd June 1960 and she will celebrate her 63rd birthday in just two days from today. She is a of Ameru tribe in Kenya born in Kithui village in present day Meru county. She holds a degree in law from the University of Nairobi and also attended the Kenya School of Law in 1967 just a year after graduating from the Nairobi university law school. She later attended the University of London where she obtained her master’s degree in Public International Law in 2010.
Martha is happily married to Koome Kiragu and they have been blessed with three children. They are Nkirote Koome, Kelvin Koome and Kagwira Koome. The husband, Koome Kiragu is serving as the chairperson for the Habitat for Humanity-Kenya.
She has a rich career background but all begun when she was working as an advocate with the Mathenge and Muchemi Advocates before starting her own law firm. She got nominated to the Law Society of Kenya as council member from 1993 to 1996. Between 1994 until 1996, Koome was the East Africa Law Society’s founding treasurer. She has also served as Chairperson of FIDA, one of the country’s top human rights groups.
Martha Koome was appointed as a Commissioner to the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of Children in 1995 by the African Union summit of heads of state. Additionally, she oversaw the Children’s Act review while chairing the National Council on the Administration of Justice’s special committee on children’s issues.
Her career path is quite lengthy as she has been so actively involved in various legal careers. Her appointment as the CJ in Kenya was done on 19 May 2021 after her name was forwarded to the president alongside other three contenders who made it through the interview pannel. The then president Uhuru Kenyatta picked her out of the three and forwaded her name to parliament for approval and was voted as the CJ and later sworn in at State House on Friday May 21, 2021.
