Martha Koome Biography – Martha Koome Wiki
Martha Koome (Lady Justice Martha Karambu Koome) is the incumbent Chief Justice of Kenya. This follows her appointment by the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta on May 19, 2021. She has previously served as a Kenyan Advocate and a Judge serving at the Court of Appeal following her appointment in 2012. On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, she was nominated as Kenya’s third Chief Justice by the Judicial Service Commission. She is the first woman chief justice and also was the first to be nominated as Chief Justice in Kenya. She has been approved by Kenya’s parliament and the president, she will serve as Kenya’s 15th chief justice since independence. She holds an LL.B. from the University of Nairobi and an LL.M in Public International Law from the University of London. Justice Koome graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1986 and proceeded to the Kenya School of Law in 1987. She completed her Master’s degree (LL.M) in Public International Law at the University of London in 2010. She was admitted to the Bar as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya in 1986 and started as a legal associate at Mathenge and Muchemi Advocates until 1993 when she opened her own law firm and became the managing partner until 2003. She was elected as a council member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in 1993-1996.
She was appointed Judge of the Court of Appeal in January 2012. Before her appointment to the Court of Appeal, she served as Puine Judge for over eight years and practiced law for 15 years. In 2012, she was also elected the Chairperson of the Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association. She has an aggregate of 33 years of experience in the legal profession. She has distinguished herself as a defender of Human and Gender Rights. She was one of the lawyers who actively participated in the clamor for the repeal of section 2A of the Constitution and for the Independence of the judiciary. She is an acclaimed expert in family law and she takes a keen interest in the welfare of children. She was a runner-up in the 2020 United Nations person of the year.
In 1995 she was appointed by the African Union meeting of heads of states as a Commissioner to the African Committee on the Rights and welfare of children. She has also served as the Chairperson of the National Council on the Administration of Justice special task force on children matters where she helped steer the review of the Children’s Act. During her tenure at the Law Society of Kenya, she took a leading role in constitutional and legal reforms and was part of the constitutional review process as a delegate at the Bomas of Kenya where she partially chaired the thematic area on the Bill of Rights. She also served as the inaugural treasurer in the East Africa Law Society between 1994-1996. She has also served as Chairperson of FIDA one of the leading human rights organizations in Kenya.
Martha Koome Age
She was born Martha Karambu Koome in 1960 in Kithiu Village, Meru County, Kenya.
Martha Koome Husband
She is married to her husband, Koome Kiragu and they are parents of three children.
Martha Koome Children
She is a parent and is the mother of three children.
Martha Koome Family
She was born in Meru County and was raised in a polygamous family of 18 children. Her father had two wives and she is the eighth child of her mother. She hails from the Meru Tribe of Kenya.
