ANNE MBUGUA: A LEADING VOICE FOR CHANGE IN KENYA
WHEN lawyer Anne Mbugua, the then chairperson of the Kenya Christian Lawyers Fellowship, and the organization found themselves unhappy with some of the proposals for amending the country’s Constitution in 2009/2010, they had a choice. They could oppose, accept, or remain silent.??
The board of the organization, she said in an online interview, resolved to oppose the proposed changes. “Because though it had wonderful clauses on matters of governance, there were clauses that we felt were a threat to right to life, the natural family and religious freedom.”? They rallied lawyers and other professionals to advocate for amendments of the?clauses they considered offensive. Though they made limited gains the threats remained. “When the draft moved to the referendum campaign?stage, we decided to rally Kenyans,?especially the church, against it. We unfortunately lost and it was a sad moment.”? Even though they lost, the Kenya Christian Lawyers Fellowship had graphically made the point to the country’s government and the population they would stand up for rights that they considered to be important.?
Anne, a successful advocate and senior partner at Musyimi and Company Advocates in Nairobi, said: “I was satisfied that we stood for the sanctity?of life, natural family?and religious freedom. The Christian call is to be witnesses, watchmen, and contenders for the faith. The risks were real and it would have been a tragedy if the church was silent.”?
The campaign against the proposed constitutional revision galvanised professionals across a wide spectrum to work closer together. “There were many professionals from various professions and denominations that had come together under the banner of the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum. That is how in 2010 the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum (KCPF) was born.?
The KCPF has since become a vocal voice in contending for the sanctity of life, natural family and religious freedom. Its pillars are Life, Family, Religious Freedom, and Governance.? The partners are the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches of Kenya and the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya. It has numerous corporate members and nearly 300 individual members. “I was its first chairperson and I served for 10 years,” said Anne, a mother of two daughters.? A big aim of the KCPF initiative is to promote pro-life initiatives. “We put together a consortium that is pro-life. One of our projects is the Protecting Life Movement Trust which runs rescue homes for girls in a pregnancy crisis. They are taken in, taken care of, given vocational training and, after birth, reconnected with their families. We support this initiative in various ways.?
“We also decided to share the concept of professionals across denominations working together in the advocacy field with the rest of Africa and we set up the Africa Christian Professionals Forum which has a footprint in more than 23 African countries. I am the Chair of the Continental Board constituted by regional representatives from East, Central, South and West Africa.”?
She has a clear idea of where lawyers, especially Christian lawyers, stand in society. “Lawyers have a great sphere of influence: clients, professional bodies, churches, the wider community. They can use their position, resources and networks to contend for their faith.”?
Anne’s lifelong calling to care for the greater community was awakened as she watched her mother, Jane Kimani, live out the virtues of compassion, caring, and sharing with neighbours in their Kikuyu village, Kiambu.?Indeed, so profound was the example her late mother set, that villagers in their village, which is near the capital Nairobi, called her Nyine wa Andu (Mother of the People) in honour of her generosity and selflessness. Her children are known as the children of “Nyina wa Andu”.??Anne fondly recalled that her mother “shared the little food that she had in the village with inhabitants. We set up small foundations in her name to continue with her legacy.”?
Her mother’s generous spirit should not give the impression that Anne grew up in a wealthy family. “We were subsistence farmers. I herded goats and cows. We did not have piped water. Our farming was rain-based. One farmed and ate everything that was grown. Sometimes that was not enough to feed us.” Anne experienced hardship in different ways, such as walking barefoot five kilometres from her home to school and the same distance back from Monday to Friday, come rain or sunshine.??“People supported us. A teacher bought me a cardigan. We did not feel poor because we had a lot of love at home.”??
The Presbyterian Church of East Africa church played a pivotal role in her childhood. Her parents, she said, were God-fearing and churchgoing. “In the initial stages my mother preached to my father. He used to drink a lot.? The Lord caught up with him. He followed Mom. When she died, he carried on with the legacy. My parents left a legacy of faith. That is the best gift you can get.”?
Because her siblings went to university after completing their school careers, Anne never considered not following in their footsteps and study at a tertiary institution. “I liked arguing and discourse and thought I should study law.” She obtained a LLB degree, studied a further compulsory year at Kenya School of Law and served her pupillage to prepare to enter the legal profession.?
A legal practitioner for the past 30 years, Anne believes her work comes with an obligation to respect and honour clients. This belief is undergirded by her membership of the Haggai Institute (Kenya Chapter), an organization that has its headquarters in the US, and which trains professionals to be marketplace evangelists.?“It’s basically ministry through your profession. I can take law as a means of ministry or just a profession. I see my clients as people God brought to me with a purpose. I do mediations, and family law. The family is a critical mission field. We see people in a lot of pain and the ministry of encouragement is much needed,” she said.?
Praying for her clients and even for the people that oppose them is part of her work regime. “I work hard and leave the rest to God. It’s about praying to God and asking Him to be just in these matters.”?Anne also sends her clients prayers that she asks them to pray. “I’ve seen their faith grow. I advocate fairness to clients. Sometimes they don’t want to be fair, especially in family matters and when they split up as a couple. Then I advise and argue for fairness. There are people who could have made decisions that would have haunted them for the rest of their lives. However, they then chose to do the right thing.”?
With her many exacting commitments, Anne recharges her batteries through organic farming on a small farm in her home village. “I started this before I suffered health challenges. I began organic farming to sell food that was ‘clean’ and not treated with pesticides.”?
The farm yields enough produce to feed her family and sell on the market. “I find organic farming therapeutic and fulfilling as it allows me to get my hands dirty.” One could add that Anne is a formidable lawyer who gets her hands dirty by fighting for justice.?