List: Women Chief Justices in Africa

Chief Justice Martha Koome has today received the instruments of power from Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu who was the acting CJ.

The instruments included the Constitution, the Judiciary flag, the Chief Justice's report on the State of The Judiciary as of January 11, 2021, and the State of the Judiciary as of May 24, 2021.

Koome now puts Kenya on the list of countries that have had female heads of the Judiciary.

They include:

1. Sudan - Chief Justice Nemat Khair, 2019-

She is the first woman who served as the country's CJ.

Born in 1957 and is originally from Gezira state in Sudan.

Graduated from Cairo University with a Law degree to become a member of the country's judiciary in the 80s. 

2. Zambia - President, Constitutional Court Hildah Chibomba, 2016-

Graduated from the University of Zambia.

Received a Master of Laws degree from the University of Bristol.

Admitted to the bar in 1982.  

She is also a member of the International Association of Women Judges as well as the Zambia Association of Women Judges.

3. Benin - President, Constitutional Court, Conceptia Denis Ouinsou, 1998-2008

She was born in Haiti in 1942.

Got married to a man from Benin and moved to the country in 1977. She then started teaching at the National University of Benin as an assistant professor.

Elected President position of the Constitutional Court in 1998.

Died in 2011.

4. Mali, President, Constitutional Court Manassa Danioko, 2015-2020

Attended Fougeres High School and went ahead to get a bachelor's degree in 1966.

Elected Mali Constitutional Court President in 2015 and held the position until July 11, 2020, when the court was dissolved.

5. Lesotho, Chief Justice Nthomeng Majara, 2014-2019

Attended the National University of Lesotho and graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree.

Majara was appointed Chief Justice for the Court of Appeals in 2014 and held the position until 2019.

6. Mozambique, President, Constitutional Court Lúcia da Luz Ribeiro, 2019-

She was born in 1963 in Maputo, Mozambique.

Attended the Polytechnic University of Madrid for her master's.

She became Jurisdictional Council of the Mozambican Bar Association president in 2003.

Elected Constitutional Court in Mozambique president in 2019, a position she holds to date.

7. Cape Verde, Maria de Fátima Coronel, President of the Supreme Court of Justice, 2015-

Maria de Fátima Coronel is the President of the Supreme Court of Justice in Cape Verde, a position she has held since 2015.

The Supreme Court of Justice is the apex court in the land.

8. Rwanda, Aloysie Cyanzayire, Chief Justice, 2004-14

She was the first woman to hold the CJ position between 2004-14.

Born in the Southern Province of Rwanda, Cyanzayire was voted into the position in 2003 by the Senate.

Source: African Women In Law, https://www.africanwomeninlaw.com/african-women-chiefjustices