[PHOTOS] Meet nun-turned-lawyer defending Kitany in divorce case

In Summary

•She was gazetted on December 21 in compliance with the provision of Section 13 of the Advocates Act.

•Initially, she wanted to study canon law but saw an opportunity to study civil law to help many religious men and women, including clergy, in Kenya to protect their properties and to offer them legal advice.

Deputy President William Ruto's former aide, Marianne Kitany, was again in court on Tuesday to give her testimony of her relationship with Senator Mithika Linturi.

This time around, she was accompanied by a nun.

Sr Leonida Cecilia Katunge King'ola was in court, not to offer divine intervention, but her legal services by representing Kitany.

 

Katunge cross-examined Kitany's mother, Rhoda, who testified about how she came to know Linturi.

She was gazetted on December 21 last year in compliance with provisions of Section 13 of the Advocates Act.

Katunge was among the 227  advocates to be admitted by Chief Justice David Maraga to the bar last Wednesday.

Who is Sr Katunge?

According to the Catholic News Agency for Africa, Katunge, 40, is the fourth born of nine children.

She was born in Yuuni village, Mbitini ward in Makueni county.

Katunge joined Sister of St Joseph archdiocese in  1997 and made her first vows on December 8, 2000, and solemn or perpetual vows on December 8, 2011.

 

She has studied philosophy, theology, and law. 

Katunge is a lecturer at three institutes - Tangaza University, Chemichemi ya Uzima Institute and the CUEA.

Katunge completed her PhD in theology in 2013 from the University of Anselm in Italy.

In 2014, she joined the Catholic University of Eastern Africa  School of Law to do a Bachelor's degree.

In an interview with the Nation newspaper in February, Katunge said she decided to study law after facing frustration seeking legal property documentation for the Sisters of Mombasa Archdiocese's land. 

She finished her law degree in 2016 and in 2017 joined the school of law based in Karen.

She did her Council of Legal Education and Pupilage examinations which she passed enabling her to be gazetted on December 21.

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