- Hillary Muhalya reflects on Dr John Khaminwa’s remarkable journey across Kenya’s legal and political history.
- He argues that Khaminwa’s five-decade career shows how legal knowledge can become a form of public service.
- The veteran advocate’s 90th birthday offers Kenya a chance to celebrate his contribution while he is still active.
At 90, Dr John Khaminwa is not merely celebrating longevity. He is celebrating more than five decades at the Bar and an extraordinary journey through Kenya’s legal and political history.
From his Idakho roots in western Kenya, through colonial-era schooling, public legal service and private practice, to some of the country’s most consequential constitutional and human-rights battles, Khaminwa has remained remarkably active.
He is widely described in current Kenyan reporting as Kenya’s oldest practising advocate. NTV Kenya, among others, has described him as the country’s oldest practising lawyer and noted that he entered private practice in 1973.
That distinction gives his 90th birthday an importance far beyond a personal milestone.
Khaminwa is a living bridge between generations of Kenya’s legal profession.
Born on September 10, 1936, in Masiyenze, a Quaker village in the Idakho area of present-day Kakamega County, Khaminwa grew up in a family that valued education. His father, Ralph Shihemi Asiabugwa Khaminwa, was a teacher, while his mother, Rasoah Muhonjia Khaminwa, came from the Maragoli community.
His early education took him through schools including Masiyenze, Makhokho, Musingu and Kakamega, before he attended the Government African School Kakamega and later Alliance High School, Kikuyu.
From those beginnings in western Kenya, he progressed into higher education and eventually the legal profession, later undertaking postgraduate legal studies, including a Master of Laws in International Law at New York University School of Law. He also holds an LL.B from the University of London.
His early career included service as a State Counsel, Deputy Registrar of the High Court and Resident Magistrate, as well as work within the legal structures of the former East African Community.
In 1973, he entered private practice.
More than half a century later, he remains at the Bar.
A career shaped by Kenya’s political struggles
His career has unfolded alongside some of the most turbulent chapters of Kenya’s history. During the one-party era under President Daniel arap Moi, Khaminwa became associated with the defence of political detainees, activists and others involved in politically sensitive cases.
He also experienced the machinery of state power personally.
In June 1982, he was arrested and detained without charge or trial. Amnesty International documented his detention and noted that he appeared to have been detained because of his professional legal activities representing George Anyona and other clients in politically sensitive cases. He was released in October 1983.
Yet detention did not end his legal advocacy.
Instead, Khaminwa continued to appear in difficult cases involving constitutional rights, political freedoms and the rule of law.
That courage is at the heart of tributes from lawyers who encountered him in practice and regarded him as a lawyer willing to place justice above monetary gain.
One such account by fellow lawyer Donald B Kipkorir recalls meeting Khaminwa as a young advocate and working with him in politically sensitive matters.
The specific historical details of the Ndeiya Six case cited in that recollection should, however, be independently verified before being presented as settled fact.
But the account captures an important characteristic of Khaminwa’s career: his willingness to take on difficult causes and stand beside people who might otherwise struggle to obtain a strong legal defence.
That willingness has remained central to his professional identity.
Khaminwa has represented political leaders, activists and ordinary citizens. His career has included major constitutional and human-rights litigation, extending from the political struggles of the 1970s and 1980s into Kenya’s multiparty era and the constitutional order established by the 2010 Constitution.
A legacy beyond famous cases
His contribution has also extended beyond famous courtroom battles.
He has developed a reputation for pro bono work and representing people who could not afford conventional legal services. In 2021, he was recognised for a career that included more than 1,000 pro bono representations.
This provides another way of understanding his legacy.
A lawyer can measure success through fees, property, prestigious clients and professional titles.
Khaminwa’s career offers another measure: the number of people who found a voice because a lawyer was willing to stand beside them.
That philosophy has made him an unusual figure in Kenya’s legal profession.
There have been other towering advocates of his generation.
The late Pheroze Nowrojee, for example, was another distinguished human-rights and constitutional lawyer whose career left a profound mark on Kenya. Nowrojee died on April 5, 2025, at the age of 84.
Khaminwa’s distinction is different.
He is still here.
He is still practising.
That makes him more than a historical figure.
He is a living participant in Kenya’s legal history.
He has seen colonial rule give way to independence.
He has practised through the one-party era.
He experienced detention.
He witnessed the return of multiparty politics.
He lived through the constitutional reform struggles.
He saw the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.
And he has continued to participate in constitutional litigation in the new order.
Few practising advocates can claim such a long professional journey across so many defining moments of the Republic.
Give him the flowers now
His influence is also evident in the lawyers he inspired.
That may be the most powerful form of professional legacy.
A lawyer can win a case and change one person’s life.
A lawyer can represent hundreds of clients and influence public policy.
But a lawyer who inspires another young person to enter the profession can influence generations.
Khaminwa’s story therefore stretches from Masiyenze and the Idakho community to the highest levels of Kenya’s legal profession.
It is a story of education, determination, courage and service.
But it is also a challenge to the profession he has served for more than five decades.
What does it mean to be a lawyer?
Is it simply a profession through which one earns a living?
Or is it also a public trust?
Khaminwa’s career points to the latter.
His example suggests that legal knowledge carries responsibility, professional influence carries obligation and the rule of law requires people willing to defend it when doing so is difficult.
At 90, Kenya’s oldest practising advocate therefore deserves more than birthday congratulations.
He deserves to be studied.
Young lawyers should hear his story while he can still tell it.
The profession should preserve his institutional memory.
And the country should recognise the contribution of its legal giants while they are still alive to receive that recognition.
Too often, Kenya gives its finest citizens their flowers after death.
Khaminwa’s 90th birthday provides an opportunity to do something different.
Give him the flowers now.
For after more than five decades at the Bar, his greatest achievement may not be any single case, client or courtroom victory.
It may be the example he has left behind: That education gives a person ability, the law gives that person power, but character determines how that power is used.
READ ALSO: Kenya must audit teacher qualifications before CBE staffing gaps become a learner crisis
Dr John Khaminwa chose to use his for justice.
By Hillary Muhalya
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