Maina Kiai appointed chairperson of KHRC board of directors
Maina Kiai takes over from Davinder Lamba, whose leadership anchored the commission through turbulent times, and will be deputised by Betty Okero.
Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, has been appointed the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) board of directors chair.
The prominent lawyer is the founding executive director of KHRC and served as the inaugural chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) between 2003 and 2008.
It is during the KNCHR tenure that Kiai built a reputation for his courageous and effective advocacy against official corruption, impunity, and in support of political reforms following the post-election violence that shook Kenya in 2008, causing thousands of deaths.
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He takes over from Davinder Lamba, whose leadership anchored the commission through turbulent times, and will be deputised by Betty Okero.
"We look forward to a renewed and fearless chapter in defending human rights and freedoms. He assumes the leadership of the human rights sector at a time when the soul of the nation and region is under relentless assault from severe governance abuses manifested in gross violations of fundamental freedoms and rampant grand corruption," KHRC said in a statement on Thursday.
While accepting and acknowledging his appointment, Kiai said, "Kenya is under attack by a regime that fears its people. But we will not blink. I am committed to guiding KHRC to resist, expose, and push back against any force, be it the William Ruto regime or its enablers, that tramples rights, freedoms, and the Constitution."
Most recently, Kiai worked as Human Rights Watch's director of alliances and partnerships.
His extensive human rights work in Sierra Leone earned him being enthroned as paramount chief of the Mende community.
Prior to this, Kiai served as the executive director of the International Council on Human Rights Policy, a Geneva-based think-tank which produces research reports and briefing papers with policy recommendations.
He also held key roles such as Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme from 1999 to 2001, and Africa Director of the International Human Rights Law Group (now Global Rights) between 2001 and 2003.
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