In the footsteps of his father Cecil Miller Snr

Lawyer Cecil Miller will not be the first from his family to ascend to high public office in Kenya.

His late father, Cecil Henry Ethelwood Miller was Kenya’s Chief Justice from 1986 to 1989.

Cecil Miller Snr was a distinguished World War II veteran of the Royal Air Forces, before proceeding to the legal career.

He is remembered for having presided over the Njonjo Commission of Inquiry in 1984 while still a High Court judge.

He also made controversial decisions like when he summoned his boss, then Chief Justice Sir Alfred Simpson, to testify at the Inquiry where he declined to answer questions.

In 1987, Miller clashed with a former High Court judge Derek Schofield when the CJ intervened in a case of Stephen Mbaraka Karanja that the judge was handling.

Miller, who led the Judiciary during Kanu single-party rule, had other controversial brushes especially with human rights lawyers. Justice Miller, who hailed from Guyana, died in 1989 and was buried in Kitale.

— By Maina Muiruri