Justice Gatembu Kairu has been elected as the new President of the Court of Appeal. In an exercise that took place on Monday, June 22, Justice Gatembu garnered 26 votes out of the 41 ballots cast. The race attracted four candidates. The others were Lady Justice Lydia Achode, Justice Patrick Kiage and Lady Justice Agnes Murgor. He succeeds Justice Daniel Musinga, whose term elapsed on 24 May 2026.
Justice Gatembu Kairu is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a sitting Judge of the Court of Appeal, and a declared candidate for the presidency.
Justice Gatembu’s Early Life and Education Background
Justice Gatembu Kairu was born in July 1960, making him 65 years old as of June 2026.
Kairu holds a Master of Laws (LLM) from Boston University (1990), a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Nairobi (1984), and a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law (1985).
He is a trained trainer in Alternative Dispute Resolution through the Center for Africa Peace and Conflict Resolution at California State University and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
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Gatembu’s Education Career
Justice Gatembu Kairo was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, School of Law, from 1990, where he was teaching:
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Banking Law
Civil Procedure and Practice
HIV/AIDS and the Law
Law of Torts
Law of International Institutions
Justice Gatembu’s Law Career
Justice Gatembu later started his Law career as a private advocate.
He was a Legal Assistant at Harrison & Mathews Advocates and an Associate at Kimani Kairu & Company Advocates.
Gatembu was the founder and partner at Kairu & McCourt Advocates, founded in 1993, and remained a partner until 2009.
He ventured into Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practice and became a full-time arbitrator and mediator in 2009.
Justice Gatembu has trained and facilitated ADR workshops in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Justice Kairu joined the Judiciary in 2012, upon his appointment by the President of the Republic of Kenya as a Judge of the Court of Appeal, following a competitive recruitment process conducted by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Justice Kairu has served in various committees in the Judiciary, including as chair of the Integrated Court Management System Committee.
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High-profile constitutional rulings by Justice Gatembu
Justice Gatembu was one of the seven Court of Appeal judges in the unanimous bench that ruled the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) constitutional amendment process null and void in 2021.
He held that voters were not supplied with adequate information on the BBI process, and that the President, as Head of State, could not initiate constitutional review through the popular initiative route under Article 257. The bench upheld the basic structure doctrine and found that BSI promoters abused the popular initiative process.
Justice Kairu was the one who ruled in the Matrimonial Properties Act ruling 2025, together with Aggrey Muchelule, ruled that Section 7 of the Matrimonial Properties Act empowers women by recognizing monetary or other contributions to a marriage in determining each spouse’s share of matrimonial property, affirming the High Court’s check on spouses “eyeing riches in marriage”.
Kairu, as chair of the Judiciary’s Integrated Court Management System Committee
As chair of the Judiciary’s Integrated Court Management System Committee, he oversaw the digitization and modernization of court case management, which improved the efficiency and transparency in the appellate court system
Net worth
There is no public record of how rich Justice Gatembu Kairu is.
However, Judges of the Court of Appeal in Kenya earn a gross monthly package ranging from Ksh 689,224 to Ksh 1,122,759, depending on the salary point.
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