Kenya’s legal fraternity paid their last respects to the late Senior Counsel (SC) Pheroze Nowrojee, one of the country’s most distinguished legal minds in a memorial held on Thursday at the National Museum of Kenya.
SC Nowrojee, a constitutional scholar, teacher, human rights advocate, political strategist, writer and poet, and a public intellectual died of pneumonia in April at the age of 84 while visiting his children in the US.
His family recently brought back his cremated remains and on Wednesday July 9th, the Judiciary held a special court session to honour his legacy. The Special File Closing proceedings conducted at the Supreme Court was led by Chief Justice Martha Koome and constituted a five-judge bench comprising of judges from the various courts. They included Court of Appeal President Justice Daniel Musinga and Principal Judges Oscar Angote (ELC), Eric Ogola (High Court) and Byram Ongaya (ELRC).
Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Faith Odhiambo, Dr. Fred Ojiambo who is the chair of the Senior Counsel Bar, Senior Counsel Martha Karua and former Attorney General Professor Githu Muigai also attended the special court session among other distinguished members of the legal fraternity.
Mr. Nowrojee’s contributions helped shape Kenya’s democratic path. He played a vital role in the country’s decades-long constitutional reform process that culminated in the 2010 Constitution. He served as an Ambassador of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, a Commissioner on Public Violence, and at the Kenya National Human Rights Commission.
The memorial at the National Museum of Kenya brought together the who’s who in the country’s legal fraternity including two former Chief Justices, Dr. Willy Mutunga, and Mr. David Maraga, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, judges, and almost every known lawyer in the country.
The soft-spoken legal titan was born in Nairobi in 1941 to Eruch Nowrojee and Mrs Nifa Muruli, 45 years after his grandfather arrived in East Africa in April 1896 as an engine driver for the Uganda Railway.
One of the most outstanding personal characters of the late SC Nowrojee talked about in the attributes by all the speakers at the memorial was his personal integrity. He was uncompromising to the principles he lived by.
Personal integrity is a virtue that was talked of him long before his demise. In 2012, for instance, Muriithi Mutiga wrote in the Daily Nation of January 7th about how SC Nowrojee, riding in the same car with him to an interview venue, refused to part with a bribe to a traffic police officer after they had been flagged for allegedly flouting a traffic rule. Despite the inconvenience that ensued, including running late with the interview schedule, SC Nowrojee insisted on the law taking its course.
He so loved integrity that he dedicated his final book, Practising an Honourable Profession (2024), to distilling a lifetime of legal and ethical insight.
SC Pheroze Nowrojee is survived by his wife, Viloo, and daughters, Binaifer and Sia, and son, Elchi. May his soul rest in eternal peace
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