David Maraga

The Hon. Justice David Maraga
David K. Maraga in October 2016
14th Chief Justice of Kenya President of the Supreme Court of Kenya
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 October 2016
Appointed by	Uhuru Kenyatta
Preceded by	Willy Mutunga
Personal details
Born	1951 (age 65–66) Nyamira, Kenya
Children	3<ref>"Star JSC". The Star Kenya. </ref>
Alma mater	University of Nairobi (LLB) <br> University of Nairobi (LLM)
Occupation	Chief Justice of Kenya
Profession	Judge
Website	Official website

David Kenani Maraga (born in 1951), is a Kenyan lawyer and jurist. He is the Chief Justice and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya. He is the 14th Chief Justice of Kenya.

Maraga was born in Bonyamatuta, Nyamira County, on 12th January, 1951. He studied law at the University of Nairobi, and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws in 1977. Later, he obtained a Master of Laws from the university. He also holds a post graduate diploma awarded in 1978 by the Kenya School of Law.

Justice Maraga joined the bench as a High Court Judge in October 2003 having been appointed by retired President Mwai Kibaki. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2012 following an interview process by the Judicial Service Commission.

Since he was appointed to a judicial office before the 2010 Constitution of Kenya came into force, Justice Maraga went through the mandatory vetting by the Judges & Magistrates Vetting Board in 2012. The Vetting Board unanimously declared him fit to continue serving in office, though his vetting took a dramatic twist when he demanded a Bible and swore before the vetting panel that he had never taken a bribe in his judicial career and would never take bribes in future.

A year after joining the Court of Appeal, he vied for the position of President of the Court of Appeal, losing by a solitary vote to the current President, Justice Kihara Kariuki.

Justice Maraga was appointed by retired Chief Justice Willy Mutunga in May 2012 to chair the Kenya Judiciary Working Committee on Election Preparations (JWCEP) which was constituted in 2012 to ensure the Judiciary was fully prepared to deal in a timely manner, with any disputes that would arise from the March 2013 General Election.

As a result of the Committee's work, the Judiciary is in position to deal with all election petitions within the strict statutory timelines. The Committee was thus reconstituted as the standing Judiciary Committee on Elections (JCE) in 2015, still under the Chairmanship of Justice Maraga.