Nairobi, Feb. 16 -- Cool, calm and collected, and an inexhaustible pool of judicial wisdom-that was Justice Akilano Molade Akiwumi.

Add to this a fatherly demeanour, probing eyes and a heavy west African accent that affirmed his Ghanian roots, and you had enough to make him stand out among his peers in the Kenyan Judiciary.

As a court reporter with the Nation almost two decades back, I interacted on numerous occasions with the good judge who, sadly, made his final bow on Tuesday this week

As a judge of the Court of Appeal, the highest court in the land before the 2010 Constitution established the Supreme Court, Akiwumi wore his deep convictions about the law and justice on his sleeves.

It was his role as the chairperson of the Judicia...