At the Supreme Court in Nairobi Central District, there is a statue of a naked boy peeing while carrying fish.
According to legal experts, the boy is locally referred to as Onyango, but its official name is Hamilton Fountain.
The symbolic statue outside Supreme Court depicts a blind, naked boy donning a white wig and grasping a fish. Besides clutching a fish, the statue depicts the boy peeing into a fountain.
Water from the fountain continuously sprays the boy from four turtles.
The statue was strategically placed in the court's front facade, dividing the movement along it into the exit and entry pathways.
According to architects, traditional bronze was used to make the sculpture that has stood tall for over 50 years. The middle part of the statue was made using marble.
Why It was Erected
Hamilton Fountain was erected to honour lawyer Alexander George Hamilton, a legal practitioner who defended victims of World War II.
However, this is not the original statue that was meant to honour Alexander. His wife, Gertrude Hamilton, ordered the statue from England. The ship delivering it sank into the Indian Ocean, forcing her to order a replica.
The replica was delivered and erected in Nairobi. But it also did not last for long as it was later stolen.
Due to the loss, the Nairobi City Council, which was mandated to take care of the statue, commissioned a Kenyan sculptor Robert Glan to mold another one.
Glan delivered a masterpiece that has now become synonymous with the Supreme Court entrance to date.
Symbolic Meaning
At the moment, the statue is meant to portray justice as naked, blind, and slippery like a fish. Justice is also fearless as a child. It was used symbolically to mean that justice should be open to everyone.
The Statue's Critics
In 2013, the statue was criticised by Maendeleo ya Wanaume movement arguing that it misrepresented the boy child.
Led by Nderitu Njoka, the movement insisted that the statue was an infringement of human rights and a disrespect to the sanctity of human life.
"The statue is a reflection of injustices that are direct violations of an international charter of human rights and dignity of human life either living, in spirit or dead," Njoka stated.
“The Supreme Court claims it represents naked justice. What if it was a naked statue of a girl, would it still represent naked justice?” he asked.
Njoka asked the government to cloth the statue or demolish it.
