NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 \u2013 President William Ruto has intensified Kenya\u2019s diplomatic campaign for Justice Njoki Ndung\u2019u in her bid to be elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), using high-level engagements during the Africa Forward Summit to lobby regional and global leaders.<\/p>\n
During meetings held on the sidelines of the summit, President Ruto personally introduced Justice Ndung\u2019u to several Heads of State and international leaders as Kenya seeks to secure support from the 125 member states of the Rome Statute ahead of the ICC elections.<\/p>\n
Among the leaders engaged were representatives from France, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Madagascar, Eswatini, Egypt, Chad, Comoros, Botswana, Republic of the Congo, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and Liberia, as well as officials from the African Union Commission and the International Finance Corporation.<\/p>\n
According to officials familiar with the diplomatic engagements, Kenya\u2019s message to world leaders has centred on Justice Ndung\u2019u\u2019s extensive legal experience and her contribution to constitutional and international jurisprudence.<\/p>\n
Justice Ndung\u2019u was among the founding judges of Kenya\u2019s Supreme Court following the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution and has served at the apex court for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
She is also widely recognised for spearheading Kenya\u2019s Sexual Offences Act, legislation credited with strengthening legal protections for survivors of gender-based violence.<\/p>\n
Beyond Kenya, she played a significant role in the development of the Maputo Protocol, the African Union treaty that expanded protections for women\u2019s rights across the continent.<\/p>\n
Her supporters say her judicial record, constitutional expertise and advocacy for vulnerable groups position her strongly for the ICC role, where judges preside over cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.<\/p>\n
Kenya\u2019s outreach to countries such as France and Sierra Leone is viewed as strategically important because both states currently have judges serving at the ICC and are influential within the Assembly of States Parties.<\/p>\n
Officials say Kenya\u2019s campaign is not only about securing a seat at the Hague-based court, but also reaffirming the country\u2019s commitment to international justice and Africa\u2019s contribution to global legal systems.<\/p>\n
The nomination follows what officials describe as one of the country\u2019s most transparent and merit-based international judicial selection processes.<\/p>\n
Kenya previously had representation at the ICC through Joyce Aluoch, who served as a judge of the court between 2009 and 2018.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s current approach was shaped partly by lessons from the 2022 ICC election cycle, when Kenya had nominated Court of Appeal Judge Wanjiru Karanja before later withdrawing the candidature following diplomatic advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
Officials said the withdrawal was intended to preserve Kenya\u2019s competitiveness and diplomatic goodwill ahead of a future election cycle.<\/p>\n
Following the decision to defer the bid, the government, Judiciary and Executive coordinated preparations for the 2026 election cycle.<\/p>\n
The process formally began after Attorney General Dorcas Oduor initiated the nomination process following notification from the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute.<\/p>\n
The Judiciary subsequently invited applications from eligible judges through a competitive process overseen by the Judicial Service Commission.<\/p>\n
After evaluations and consultations, three names were forwarded for consideration before President Ruto formally nominated Justice Ndung\u2019u as Kenya\u2019s candidate through communication conveyed by Head of Public Service Felix Koskei to Chief Justice Martha Koome.<\/p>\n
Officials involved in the process insist the candidature reflects a transparent, legally grounded and nationally coordinated effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis candidature represents Kenya\u2019s commitment to international criminal justice, rule of law, gender-responsive justice and Africa\u2019s role in shaping global legal norms,\u201d an official familiar with the process said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 \u2013 President William Ruto has intensified Kenya\u2019s diplomatic campaign for Justice Njoki Ndung\u2019u in her bid to be elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), using high-level engagements during the Africa Forward Summit to lobby regional and global leaders. During meetings held on the sidelines of the summit, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}