President Ruto mourns High Court Judge David Majanja

President William Ruto has mourned High Court Judge David Majanja as an intellectual lawyer of integrity.

Justice Majanja passed away at a Nairobi hospital while receiving treatment after surgery on Wednesday evening.

In a Thursday post on X, Ruto said Majanja was a brilliant lawyer whose integrity and ability inspired the judicial fraternity.

“The Hon. Majanja was a brilliant lawyer who joined the Bench after an exemplary spell at the Bar. His integrity and ability inspired the confidence of his colleagues, while his powerful intellect made him a trusted juridical voice,” wrote the President.

“It has been evident for long that although fairly experienced, Hon. Majanja was at the beginning of a long and illustrious career, and this fact makes his passing all the more tragic.”

He extended his condolences to Justice Majanja’s family, friends and the Judiciary, adding: “May Almighty God grant you the strength to bear this loss, and may his soul rest in eternal peace.”

Justice Majanja’s death was announced by Chief Justice Martha Koome, who termed him “a towering figure in the development of our transformative post-2010 jurisprudence and a crucial pillar” of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) as well as the Judiciary at large.

Majanja was appointed judge of the High Court in 2011 and has served in Homa Bay, Migori, Kisumu and Kisii.

He also served at the Commercial and Tax Divisions and was, at the time of his death, stationed at the Milimani High Court Civil Division.

The judge was on May 25, 2024, re-elected as a member of the JSC representing the Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association (KMJA), having been first elected to the commission on May 14, 2019, for a five-year term.

Before his re-election, Justice Majanja served as the Chairperson of the Human Resource Management Committee and was also a member of the Audit, Governance and Risk Management Committee and Learning and Development Committee.

He held a Master of Laws degree from the University of Pretoria in South Africa and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi.