Cabral Pinto: Willy Mutunga Under Cover

Willy Mutunga was one of the youthful radical lights of the Kenyan pro-democracy movement of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He paid a high price for it. As both the repression by President Daniel arap Moi's government ramped up, and the opposition to it snowballed, Mutunga was accused of being a member of an underground organisation known as the December Twelve Movement and involvement in the production of its publication, Pambana. He was subsequently detained without trial in June 1982. Released in October 1983, Mutunga set up his own legal firm and went back to giving pro bono legal aid and advice services. In 1989 he went to Canada where he studied for his PhD in Law. He founded the Kenya Human Rights Commission with others. He returned to Kenya in 1991. He was elected the Vice-President of the Law Society of Kenya and then President in 1993-05. He joined other leaders in the pro-democracy movement called National Convention Assembly/National Convention Executive Council. Mutunga served as the Chief Justice of Kenya from 2011 to 2016.