Chief Justice Emeritus, Dr Willy Mutunga, turned 79 this week, and since he hates surprises, he blew off the candles to mark the milestone before we could take pictures! He’s always been like that. Self-effacing, down to earth, and wise.
Willy, as he’s simply known to his friends, or comrades, as he prefers, appears sprightly for his age, and it’s easy to understand why: his life’s outlook has never really changed. His friends never change, even though his life circumstances have, as they did when he was made the nation’s first Chief Justice under the 2010 Constitution, which he helped mediate as an active member of the civil society. He chronicles this in a legal tome, Constitution-making From the Middle: Civil Society and Transition Politics in Kenya, 1992-1997.
Willy had been in the trenches much ealier, since 1970s, when he joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Nairobi. He would rise to the helm of the academic and staff union in those heady days when spotting a beard was enough to earn one a stint in the coolers.
In the event, he would be detained without trial for defending dissidents like the late Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and endure more than a year in some of the nation’s most notorious prisons like Manyani.
What’s remarkable about his reflections of those times is his equanimity and complete lack of bitterness. He suffered for his nation and he was glad to do it. Now that that’s phase is gone, he’s happy to recede in the background and enjoy an occasional surprise from friends and family, and blow off the candles! May Allah grant you many more, comrade!
