Justice Roselyn Naliaka Nambuye: Barrenness was shoved into my face and I mourned over it for long

Justice Roselyn Naliaka Nambuye.

By Sylvia Wakhisi  and Joan Barsulai

Kenya: Justice Roselyn Naliaka Nambuye still vividly recalls her divorce in 1990, a marriage breakdown she attributes to her inability to get children.

 In a rare but candid interview, the Court of Appeal Judge says she eventually accepted her first husband’s subsequent remarriage to another woman who would give him the children he craved for. She was introduced to her ex-husband who had just returned from Russia, where he was pursuing a Medical degree by relatives.

She was immediately taken in by this humble and hardworking doctor, who seemed to be equally impressed by her, a law school student at her prime. “I was hardworking, educated and disciplined, the kind of partner one would seek,” says Nambuye, 62.

The colourful wedding at the Nyeri cathedral would set them off to a new beginning and the marriage seemed to blossom until 1980 when the first cracks began to emerge. Nambuye could not get children and in classical African fashion, her parents-in-law brought a second wife into her home.

“Barrenness was slammed onto my face and I mourned over it for a long time,” she says. “When the second wife came into our marriage in 1981, I chose to stay on and make it work. But the challenges were beyond my control. She was a Form Four leaver and not of our social standard and, therefore, compatibility became a problem,” she explains. She believes this incompatibility was exacerbated by her co-wife’s limited exposure and schooling. “When you have two educated women as co-wives, they can find a way to cope with one another. But in this case her relatives knew that if we both stayed in the same home, she would ultimately become the  housewife, because she was not educated,” she says.

This posed a dilemma for Nambuye who says, “I never wanted to lose my marriage. My husband and I had no issues between us despite the presence of a second wife. I can’t really fault him. It was actually his family that had a hand in the divorce. They brought him the second wife and she has remained a housewife to this day as far as I know,” she tells The Standard On Sunday.

The step-children

Nevertheless, Nambuye continues to view marriage as an important institution that underlies the bedrock of the family.

She re-married Daniel Kennedy Aganyanya, now a retired judge, much later in 1994 and started a new life with step-children and step-grandchildren to look after.

Before these personal tribulations, Nambuye’s star seemed to shine in the legal profession she says she stumbled upon by chance.

But that was later, before her guileless expectations would be transformed as she matured. 

“Growing up, I greatly admired the nursing profession and wanted to be a nurse. But her philosophical outlook would change with time, and with it her dreams. “While in Form Three, I read in a newspaper report about the swearing-in of Hon Justice Effie Awuor, now retired, as the first woman magistrate. I thought to myself; why weren’t there more women taking up such positions. This is when I decided to pursue career in Law,” she says.

She pursued a Bachelor of Laws degree  at the University of Nairobi in 1973 and graduated with an Upper Second Class Honours; she was the only female student in that category.

In 1976, she proceeded to the Kenya School of Law for a diploma in Law. She was then posted to Marsabit as a District Officer III, but advanced to District Officer II in less than two years.

There were plenty of surprises in Marsabit; gender discrimination was rampant and residents were unaccustomed to working with an accomplished female professionals. “In this predominantly Muslim area, they did not really want to believe that women could resolve complex social problems. Many would come to the office and demand to see a male district officer, so I was often ignored,” says Nambuye, who eventually won them over and leveraged her newfound respect by encouraging locals to take their daughters to school.

First woman

In 1980, she joined the Bench as a District Magistrate and worked in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kericho, Eldoret, Kisumu and several other stations.

“I served longest at the Eldoret station during which, I gave priority to settling land cases cognizant that most social problems were centered around this issue,” she says.

A quick rise through the ranks would propel Nambuye to the Acting Resident Magistrate position before she advanced to Resident Magistrate, Senior Resident Magistrate, the first woman Principal Magistrate and ultimately the first woman Chief Magistrate.

In 1991, she was appointed the third female judge in the High Court of Kenya and in 2011 she was appointed to the Court of Appeal.

With a judicial career spanning 36 years, Nambuye has been noted for her resilience. In 2003, the Integrity and Anti-corruption Committee of the Judiciary that had been established to rid the Bench of those deemed to have been implicated in corruption ruled that she was unfit to serve and recommended she be removed from office as part of an exercise then referred to as radical surgery. However, she challenged this decision by the Justice Aaron Ringera-led team and was reinstated by former President Mwai Kibaki even before the tribunal completed its investigation.

Nambuye served on the Bench until 2012 when the Sharad Rao-led Vetting Board attempted to cut short her career when it ruled that she had a tendency to delay rulings and judgments. However, she challenged her removal and asked that she be vetted afresh due to weaknesses and anomalies in the vetting process.

During this re-vetting, Nambuye was cleared of all allegations and was declared fit to resume her duties.

She explains why she challenged rulings against her, which would have floored lesser mortals. “I have been true to my oath of office by rendering justice to all without fear or favour. This is evidenced by the fact that of the many decisions I have rendered as a judge, very few found their way to the Court of Appeal.”

Singular motivation

Today, Nambuye serves as the Chairperson of the Kenya Women and Judge’s Association that has continued to press for the hiring of more women judges. She is happy with the transformation at the Bench, which she says: “Has become more women friendly, even to those who are mothers,” she says.

 “We have two women in the Supreme Court, eight in the Court of Appeal, 33 in the High Court and 188 magistrates, raising to 231 the number of women at the Bench. These numbers are set to rise since eight have been appointed and are awaiting swearing-in.”

As she steps back from her role as Judge, Nambuye takes pride in the 100 foster children she supports through education and financing. She says her singular motivation to help the disadvantaged was ingrained in her by her father, who encouraged all his children, boys and girls to excel. This is why she sponsors and solemnizes marriages of couples with a view to protecting the family institution.

For leisure, she enjoys a little subsistence farming, a craft she says she mastered following the death of her four brothers, which placed the burden of handling some of the farm chores on her shoulders.