The Honourable Njoki Susanna Ndung'u | |
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| Justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya | |
| Assumed office 26th August 2011 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 January 1966 |
Njoki Susanna Ndungu is a Kenyan lawyer and a justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from University of Nairobi , a Master of Laws (LLM) in human rights and civil liberties from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and a Diploma on Women's Rights [1] She was born in 1966.
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 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 Kenya Branch Office as a national protection officer. Between 2000 and 2002 she worked as a political analyst for the Organization of African Unity, (OAU). She is also a former Member of the Pan-African Parliament, where she represented Kenya. [2]
She served as a National Rainbow Coalition (NARC)-nominated member of Parliament between 2003 and 2007 (9th Parliament) and served on the following Parliamentary committees:
She also moved several private members bills, including:
Njoki served as a member of the Committee of Experts that drafted the Constitution of Kenya, which was promulgated in 2010. [3]
In 2006, Njoki Ndungu was named the United Nations Person of the Year in Kenya for her contributions to constitutional reform and human rights. [4] That same year, she received the International Commission of Jurists (Kenya Section) Jurist of the Year Award. [5] She has also been recognized with presidential commendations, including the Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS) in 2006 and later the Chief of the Burning Spear (CBS). [6]
She was the architect and mover of the ‘Sexual Offenses Bill, 2006’ which was eventually passed as the Sexual Offences Act 2006. [7]
In June 2011, she was among 5 justices nominated to the Supreme Court of Kenya by the Judicial Service Commission (Kenya) which had interviewed 25 applicants. [8] On 26 August 2011, she was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Kenya, assuming office on that date. [9] [10]
When the first round of the presidential election took place on March 4, 2013. Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the president-elect of Kenya by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. Raila Odinga challenged this in the Supreme Court of Kenya. She was one of the six judges who dismissed the petition on March 30, 2013. Judicial philosophy
Justice Njoki Susanna Ndung’u is noted for her detailed dissenting opinions in the Supreme Court of Kenya, particularly in high-profile constitutional and electoral cases. [11] [12] Her dissents have been widely discussed in legal scholarship and public discourse for their emphasis on constitutional interpretation and the protection of rights. At the conclusion of the 2017 presidential election petition, Lady Justice Njoki Ndungu rendered a dissenting opinion alongside Justice Jacktone Boma Ojwang, citing no evidence to announce the elections as null and void. [13] In the 2022 Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) judgment, she dissented from the majority, rejecting the application of the basic structure doctrine and holding that the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 does not contain unamendable provisions. She further argued that the President, as a citizen, could initiate constitutional amendments through the popular initiative process. [14] In the Senate Advisory Opinion Reference No. 2 of 2013, she dissented from the majority, holding that the Senate had a constitutional role in the Division of Revenue Bill and should not be excluded from the legislative process. [15] Her dissent emphasized the importance of bicameralism and the Senate’s oversight in matters affecting county governments. In the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board v. Justice Mohammed Warsame matter, she dissented from the majority, holding that members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) elected under Article 171(2)(b), (c), (d), (f), and (g) of the Constitution were subject to parliamentary vetting and approval before appointment. In her view, parliamentary approval was necessary to check presidential powers of appointment, to ensure compliance with Chapter Six on leadership and integrity, and to uphold national values under Article 10 and Article 250(4) of the Constitution. [16]
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