Profile: The career and political journey of Attorney General nominee Justin Muturi

Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi is today facing the National Assembly’s 15-member Committee on appointments.

Led by speaker Moses Wetangula, the committee is vetting Muturi, and will determine whether he is suitable for the Attorney General job following his nomination by President William Ruto on September 27.

Muturi was born in Kanywambora village, Embu County 66 years ago. He attended a local primary school and later joined Kangaru school for his secondary education. In 1978, he joined the University of Nairobi to pursue a law degree, leading to his graduation in 1981.

Thereafter, he joined the Kenya School of law, while at the same time undertaking pupillage at the JBM Kariuki law firm and the Ramesh Sharma firm.

He was thereafter appointed as a District Magistrate and posted to Bungoma Law Courts. Here, Muturi served for 4 years before being transferred to Githunguri law courts as a resident magistrate.

After 1 year, he was transferred to Thika Law courts where he dealt with criminal and civil litigation for 3 years and 5 months.

In April 1990 he was transferred to Machakos law courts, where he served for 3 and a half years before being transferred to Nairobi Law courts. Here he served in the Criminal Division before leaving the judiciary to join politics.

As a first comer, Muturi lost his bid in the Siakago MP race in 1997. 2 years later, the area MP died, leading to a by-election in 1999 where Muturi contested and emerged winner.

He defended the seat in the 2002 General Election and won.

However, in 2007 he lost the MP seat and retreated to personal activities outside parliament and participating in the Constitution review committees as the chairperson of the Centre for Multiparty Democracy.

In 2013, Muturi made a comeback in parliament as the Speaker of the National Assembly, a position he retained in 2017 until his retirement in 2022.

However, he would later relinquish his quest to join President William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza coalition in April 2022.