Lawyer Faith Odhiambo beat four contestants to become the 51st president of the Law Society of Kenya, taking over from Eric Theuri.
She garnered a total of 3,113 votes. Her closest competitor Peter Wanyama garnered 2,165 votes.
Odhiambo was serving as the LSK vice president under the leadership of Eric Theuri.
During the campaign period, Odhiambo received a huge boost from Azimio leader Raila Odinga and secretary general of ODM Edwin Sifuna.
Before the final tally of the votes from the Thursday elections that were overseen by IEBC, Wanyama conceded defeat and congratulated Faith for her win.
“The propaganda that am a government sponsored it really hurt my campaign because throughout the period I have used very little resources. No single coin from the government. Secondly, I have taken major cases against national government to protect devolution. Actually, devolution is strong today because of the litigation I championed,” he said in his statement.
“I have lost on paper to Faith, who I reservedly congratulate, but I have won at heart. I have achieved my lifetime objective of interacting with colleagues and demonstrated the eternal verities and the spirit of Ubuntu. I have made friends, created networks, and tested my leadership skills in an election exam,” Wanyama added.
Many leaders have congratulated Odhiambo for her win,
“Congratulations madam president, Faith Odhiambo. Serve us with distinction. Just remember that in this office, one’s popularity starts waning on the day of the oath. Always do the right thing. If in doubt say No,” former LSK president Nelson Havi said on his X account.
Odhiambo is now the second female president of the LSK after Raychelle Omamo who served from 2001 to 2003.
Here are some facts about her;
She is a holder of LLB (Hons) from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law, and an LLM (Hons) in International Commercial Law with European Law from the University of Kent (UK).
Aside from being fluent in Luo, English and Swahili, she can speak Italian, Arabic and French.
Odhiambo is a lecturer at the School of Law at University of Nairobi and is currently undertaking her PhD at the same institution. Her father is a lecturer at Maseno University
She is an expert in banking law, financial services, mediation, and arbitration.
Odhiambo is a former board secretary of the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (FIDA-Kenya) and has also previously worked at the Competition Authority of Kenya.
The 51st it is. #LSKElections pic.twitter.com/HHHoYXFvAA
— Nairobi Law Monthly (@NLM_Magazine) February 29, 2024