NAIROBI – Pressure is mounting on investigators after the body of missing Kenya Forest Service (KFS) Legal Services Manager Esther Wairimu Keige was found in a coffee plantation in Juja, with the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) demanding a swift and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.
The 54-year-old advocate disappeared on June 10 after leaving her office along Kiambu Road. Weeks later, her body was discovered in an isolated coffee farm in Area 4 near Karimenu, Juja, bringing a tragic end to a search that had gripped family, colleagues and the legal fraternity.
Police confirmed the recovery of the body, which was positively identified by members of her family before it was transferred to the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital mortuary for a post-mortem examination.
Investigators say the body had started decomposing, while fresh leads have emerged after witnesses reportedly told detectives that Keige had been seen at a nearby school seeking food shortly before her body was found.
The Law Society of Kenya has now raised concerns that her legal work may hold crucial clues to the case, calling on investigators to scrutinize files she handled at the Kenya Forest Service over the past year to determine whether her professional duties could have placed her in danger.
LSK also urged the government to enhance security for advocates working in public institutions, arguing that lawyers tasked with protecting public resources are increasingly exposed to threats from powerful interests.
The lawyers’ body warned that attacks on advocates serving the public interest pose a serious threat to justice and accountability, insisting that those behind Keige’s death must be brought to book.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, LSK President Charles Kanjama said the killing of two advocates within one week raises serious concerns over the safety of lawyers, calling for a multi-agency probe to identify those behind the deaths.
Kanjama said Keige’s death came shortly after the legal fraternity lost advocate Edward Muthee Kariuki, who was killed in Athi River, describing the two incidents as a threat to the legal profession.
“This unspeakable atrocity comes an agonisingly brief forty-eight hours after the legal fraternity was thrown into deep mourning following the brutal assassination of Advocate Edward Muthee Kariuki in Athi River. The targeted, calculated extermination of two distinguished ministers of justice within a single week is not a statistical coincidence; it is a declaration of war against the rule of law, an explicit attempt to terrorise the Bar and a terrifying indicator that Kenya is rapidly descending into an era of unchecked criminality and institutional collapse,” he said.
As detectives continue piecing together the final moments of the KFS lawyer’s life, Kenyans are now waiting for the post-mortem findings and the outcome of investigations that could unravel the mystery surrounding her death.