Kenya: Ruto Congratulates Phoebe Okowa On Election to Full Nine-Year ICJ Term

What the report says

President William Ruto has congratulated Kenyan legal scholar Phoebe Okowa after her election to a full nine-year judgeship at the International Court of Justice, according to Capital FM as distributed by AllAfrica. The remarks were posted on Ruto’s official X account and framed the outcome as a source of national pride and a recognition of Kenyan expertise in international law.

The election took place at United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday, November 3, where Okowa was among nine candidates competing for five ICJ seats. The report says she won the required majority in both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, receiving 183 votes in the Assembly and 13 in the Security Council.

Her new term is set to run from February 2027 to February 2036. The article says this follows her earlier election in November 2025 to fill the vacancy left by former Somali judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, meaning her continued service will extend her role on the court.

Okowa is a professor of public international law at Queen Mary University of London and has served on the UN International Law Commission since 2021. The ICJ, based in The Hague, is the UN’s top judicial body for disputes between states. More broadly, her election is notable because it adds to Kenya’s presence in international legal institutions.