Pheroze Nowrojee: quiet giant who guarded Kenya’s conscience

He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t chase status. He didn’t trade principle for applause. Yet when he entered a courtroom, a classroom, or a conversation, the air shifted. He spoke softly – but you listened. Not out of obligation, but out of reverence. Because you knew what was coming would matter. 

Kenya lost a mind of rare brilliance when lawyer Pheroze Nowrojee died on 5 April at the age of 84. But more than that, we have lost a moral compass – one of the last few we had.

A defender of justice in its purest form

Pheroze was more than a lawyer. He was a custodian of the law’s highest purpose: justice. At a time when the law was being weaponised against the people, he chose to wield it in their defence. When the price of dissent was exile, imprisonment, or worse, Pheroze stayed. He took on the cases others wouldn’t touch. He stood beside those who had no one.

He understood something that too many forget: that legality and justice are not always the same thing. And in those critical moments where they diverged, he chose justice – every single time.

Where others chose comfort, Pheroze chose memory. His writing did not merely document. It demanded we confront. With clarity and care, he wrote of our democratic stumbles, our moral failures, and the falsehoods we tell ourselves as a nation. He reminded us that to bury the past is to betray the future.

He taught us that democracy is not just about elections, but about honesty; and that truth-telling is its own form of resistance.

Too many see culture as decoration. Pheroze understood it as destiny. He knew that who we are – our memory, our heritage, our truth – was central to who we could become. That’s why his work with the National Museums of Kenya was not a side interest. It was central to his mission.

He fought for the integrity of our history, for the preservation of our identity, and for a Kenya that could name itself without shame or distortion.

The architect behind the curtain of reform

Kenya’s shift to multi-party democracy was loud and dangerous. Many claimed credit. Few truly earned it. Pheroze was one of the few. He was the conscience in the drafting rooms, the quiet strategist behind bold reforms. He brought structure where others brought noise. He mentored without seeking recognition. He advised without seeking office.

In an age of rapid commentary and shallow certainty, Pheroze was something rare: thoughtful. There was depth in everything he did. He wasn’t interested in performance. He was interested in truth. And that’s why people – across professions, across generations – trusted him. Not because he made them feel good. But because he made them think better.

Pheroze didn’t just believe in justice – he expanded its meaning in Kenya. He made it harder for the powerful to lie. He made it easier for the weak to be heard. He brought weight to the word “democracy” when it risked becoming hollow.

If we have any sense of duty, we will not let his work die with him. We must protect the freedoms he defended. We must fight the battles he began. And we must remember that real change does not come from outrage – it comes from principle, discipline, and unshakable resolve.

As he once wrote: “The law, when rightly used, is one of the greatest instruments for justice. But when it is turned into a tool for repression, it becomes the most efficient mechanism of oppression – precisely because it appears so lawful.” May we use the law – and our lives – rightly. Rest in power, Pheroze Nowrojee. You gave us your brilliance. You gave us your courage. Now it’s our turn to honour it.