Paul Kihara Kariuki

Paul Kihara Kariuki died aged 72. His death was confirmed by his family and by Chief Justice Martha Koome in a statement issued on Tuesday 3 November 2026. The cause and place of death were not made public in the first reports.

Koome wrote that it was with profound sadness that she had learnt of his passing and described him as an accomplished jurist, an exemplary judicial leader and a dedicated public servant whose contributions to the administration of justice would remain an enduring part of Kenya's institutional history. Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the first reports.

Paul Kihara Kariuki was born on 11 May 1954 in Kiambu, Kenya. His father was Obadiah Kariuki, a bishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya, and his mother, Lillian Wairimu, was a daughter of Senior Chief Koinange, a prominent colonial era chief in Kiambu.

He attended Nairobi School and went on to the University of Nairobi, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1977.

Kariuki began his career in 1977 as a legal assistant at Hamilton, Harrison and Mathews, one of Nairobi's oldest law firms, and was a partner there from 1981 to 1986. In 1986 he co-founded Ndungu Njoroge and Kwach Advocates with partners and practised there until 2000. He then served as Director of the Kenya School of Law, which trains advocates for admission to the bar.

In October 2003 President Mwai Kibaki appointed him a judge of the High Court. He became the court's duty judge, replacing Justice Isaac Lenaola, and later sat in the civil and commercial divisions. In 2006 Chief Justice Evan Gicheru appointed him to head an integrity review committee within the judiciary, and in 2009 he was named the first Director of the newly established Judicial Training Institute, which laid the foundations for structured judicial education and later became the Kenya Judiciary Academy.

He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2012 and in 2013 was elected its President, the first under the 2010 Constitution. He led the court until 2018, championing reforms to improve efficiency and access, including decentralising its operations to stations outside Nairobi.

On 13 February 2018 President Uhuru Kenyatta nominated him as Attorney General following the resignation of Githu Muigai. He served as the government's chief legal adviser until 2022, the end of the Kenyatta administration.

Kariuki came from a family prominent in Kenyan church and public life through both his father, Bishop Obadiah Kariuki, and his maternal grandfather, Senior Chief Koinange. He held the national honour of Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart (EGH). He largely kept his private life out of public view.

Kariuki is remembered above all as an institution builder within Kenya's judiciary. As the founding Director of the Judicial Training Institute he set up the country's first structured approach to training judges and judicial officers, a programme continued by the Kenya Judiciary Academy. As President of the Court of Appeal he led efforts to reduce delays and bring the court closer to litigants across the country. Chief Justice Koome said his legacy would endure through the institutions he helped build, the reforms he championed and the generations of judicial and legal professionals who benefited from his leadership.