Justice Prof Jackton Boma Ojwang, a scholar and long-time lecturer at the University of Nairobi joined the Supreme Court at its inauguration in 2011.
He was on the six judges who dismissed the presidential election petition of March 30, 2013 and had a dissenting opinion alongside Lady Justice Njoki Ndung’u, saying there was not enough evidence to meet the threshold to annul the Kenyan presidential election held on August 8, 2017.
Born in 1950, Justice Ojwang’ attended Anjego Primary School, where most of his school mates aspired to be teachers, policemen and other careers that were popular in the rural areas in the then newly independent Kenya.
They include the retired Justice Samuel Bosire, who was a year behind him at Homa Bay and retired Judge Aaron Ringera, also a year behind him at Thika.
Justice Ojwang’s illustrious career has seen him chair the board of examiners that reviewed Attorney-General Githu Muigai’s PhD thesis at the University of Nairobi. He was also the external examiner of law scholar Mutakha Kangu’s PhD thesis at the University of Western Cape in South Africa.
The most interesting thing with Mr. Jackton Ojwang, was the size of thesis he had submitted for his final examinations – titled The Unity of the Constitution and the Common Law.
Wow! just Wow.
He became the first sitting Kenyan judge to receive a Doctor of Laws degree.
Close enough?
“What I received is called a Higher Doctorate in Law (LLD),” says Justice Ojwang’, as he walks to the wardrobe to pick up his graduation gown. “They (the university) made this one specifically for me,” he once said.
The award is widely considered a seal of authority in one’s academic discipline, and Judge Ojwang’ effectively becomes the wise man of Kenyan law with the Doctor of Laws now added to his 41-page CV.
He also joins an exclusive club of only four scholars awarded higher doctorate degrees in the history of the University of Nairobi and becomes the first one from the School of Law.
His definitions of the various concepts of law, including ‘justice’ and ‘injustice’ have been widely cited.
However, in the recent past, scandals have tainted his rather admirable profile.
Just recently, in a Special Gazette notice dated March 29, 2019 President Uhuru Kenyatta said Justice Ojwang had been suspended with immediate effect pending conclusion of the probe.
In the petition, Justice Ojwang is alleged to have benefited from the construction of a road leading to his rural house in Migori County, after issuing a favourable ruling in a Sony Sugar belt case that Governor Okoth Obado supposedly had interests in.
Justice Ojwang had been summoned to appear before a JSC Committee but he refused and instead sent his lawyer Nani Mungai to represent him.
Justice Ojwang’s wife, Professor Colleta Suda is the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in charge of Higher Education.
In 2013, she tried her luck in politics by vying for an electoral position in Migori on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket but bowed out of the race before the nominations.
In 2016, her appointment to work in the Jubilee administration became a subject of discussion at the interview for Chief Justice of Kenya position, a seat which Justice Ojwang was eyeing.