Pheroze Nowrojee Pheroze: The advocate who confronted tyrants

By then, the Nowrojee family had gone back to India but returned to East Africa after the senior Pheroze was recalled and reappointed as an engine driver.

From that moment, the Nowrojee family never returned to India and chose to fight and root themselves in East Africa – a land that had already become intertwined with their identity, struggles and hopes.

When he died on Saturday, Pheroze had become an inseparable part of that legacy. Relentless in carrying forward his father’s fighting spirit, Pheroze championed the cause of the downtrodden in the corridors of justice.

It is a story he tells vividly in the book, A Kenyan Journey, where he reflects on the enduring lesson passed down from his father: that power must always be challenged and justice must be pursued – no matter the cost.

“Like his father before him, my father had little liking for tyrants – grand or petty – or for injustice. And like his father, Eruch was tied to the country,” he says.

Pheroze’s intellectual journey began far from the Kenyan courtrooms where he would earn his place in history. He pursued law at the University of Delhi, one of India’s most prestigious institutions, immersing himself in the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi, whose doctrine of non-violent resistance to oppression resonated with him.

He was equally drawn to the thinking of Jawaharlal Nehru, whose vision of a secular, just society shaped Pheroze’s understanding of leadership.

His quest for knowledge then led him to the London School of Economics, where he encountered a wider array of progressive thought.

He was later admitted to the Bar and Lincoln’s Inn. Here, he refined his legal mind and developed an appreciation for the principles of human rights and constitutionalism.

These were not just academic interests, they were the tools with which he would confront some of the most repressive regimes in Kenyan history. He received a master’s degree from Yale University.

When he returned to Kenya, Pheroze established himself as more than just a capable lawyer. He became a defender of the oppressed, a man for whom the law was not just a profession but a calling.

It was during the harsh years of the 1980s, under President Daniel arap Moi, that Pheroze stepped fully into the national spotlight.

The ruthless crackdown on dissidents – particularly those linked to the underground Mwakenya movement – saw hundreds arrested, tortured and detained without trial. Most lawyers kept their distance, wary of attracting the wrath of the state. Not Pheroze.

He stood firmly next to the accused, offering legal defence and moral support. In the courts, he challenged the very constitutionality of the sedition laws weaponised against his clients.

He argued that the suppression of free speech and political expression was not just a legal issue but an affront to the soul of the nation.

Among those he defended was Koigi Wamwere, the activist whose confrontations with the Jome Kenyatta and Moi regimes were legendary. Pheroze became his counsel, navigating treacherous legal terrain to protect Koigi’s right to speak, to dissent and to dream of a free Kenya.

His client list read like a roll call of Kenya’s political dissidents and reformers – from Wamwere to Raila Odinga, whose detentions without trial were a hallmark of Moi’s authoritarian rule. In every case, Pheroze fought tirelessly, often risking his safety.

In the courtrooms, Pheroze publicly and persistently questioned the legality of detention without trial. His arguments helped expose the unjust nature of this colonial-era provision and the broader authoritarianism of the regime that clung to it.

But his critique of power did not begin or end with the Moi government. He was unsparing in his assessment of the Jomo Kenyatta regime, which he accused of fostering a culture of elite enrichment at the expense of the public good.

“He chose to let his government move resources from the poor to the rich. His followers moved from legitimate sources to illegitimate sources. They took public land, trust land, government money, donor money, parastatal money, always disregarding the fact that land and money were the land and money of the people,” Pheroze once observed.

For Pheroze, the struggle for liberation did not end with the lowering of the colonial flag. It continued in the daily fight for integrity, equity and justice in governance.

Pheroze was not alone in this fight. He was part of a formidable collective of radical lawyers who dared to imagine a different Kenya – Paul Muite, Gitobu Imanyara, James Orengo, John Khaminwa, Mohammed Ibrahim, among others.

They formed the vanguard of Kenya’s legal resistance, challenging the regime’s excesses in courtrooms and public forums.

They defended political prisoners, questioned the legitimacy of one-party rule and fought for the expansion of civil liberties. Through their collective efforts, they laid much of the legal groundwork for Kenya’s eventual political opening in the early 1990s.

In one case, Martha Karua recalled: “I remember Pheroze finding us outside the court and coming in to help and to lead us. He rescued us. He led us in a gallant manner.”

Under the Moi regime, Pheroze never lacked a human rights case to defend.

These ranged from the right of assembly, sedition to other Bill of Rights cases. In 2001, he had gone to a police station to check on his clients when he was arrested and beaten up.

Dr Mukhisa Kituyi protested in Parliament.

When Dr Willy Mutunga was picked as the President of the Supreme Court, it was whispered in the court corridors that Pheroze, had it not been for his advanced age, would have been a better candidate due to his depth of legal philosophy, his international legal stature and his calm, deliberate temperament.

Pheroze stole the limelight in 2017 during Mr Odinga’s presidential election petition when – for 40 minutes – he delivered a submission that many believed helped to overturn Mr Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory – the first time an African court had nullified a presidential election result.

Senior Counsel Pheroze passed away on Saturday, at the age of 84.

As Kenya continues to grapple with questions of justice, equity and governance, the legacy of Pheroze looms large.

He leaves behind not just a rich body of legal scholarship, but a living tradition of courage in the face of tyranny.