Davinder Lamba Appointed Interim Chair of KHRC

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) has appointed Davinder Lamba as the interim chair to replace prof Makau Mutua who has stepped down.

“Prof Makau Mutua has stepped aside from the role of Chair of the Board to concentrate on the Azimio election campaign,” the board said in a statement on Thursday.

Davinder has been a member of the KHRC board for many years and has exemplary and distinguished records in the human rights and social justice movements at all levels. His quest for justice started some years back in the early post-independence years making him one of the longest-serving and most indefatigable activists in Kenya and beyond.

He is at the same time the first Kenyan architecture student to pursue a master’s degree in environmental studies at the Toronto-based York University.

Davinder also worked as the Executive director of Mazingira Institute, one of the foremost and oldest civil society organizations. He was also the co-Convener of the National Convention Executive Council (NCEC) during the pro-reforms struggles of the 1990s. he has been the leader of Operation Firimbi, an initiative focused on exposing and confronting corruption and other governance excesses.

In early March, the Azimio la Umoja one Kenya coalition flag bearer Raila Odinga appointed veteran lawyer professor Makau Mutua his spokesperson on his 2022 presidential campaigns team.

Prof Makau Mutua is a former vice president of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) where he also served as a member of the Executive council and was the co-chair of the 2000 annual meeting of ASIL.  He is also the former dean at SUNY buffalo law school. He was also the Associate Director of the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program at Harvard University.

He is also an author of several books including ‘Human Rights NGOs in East Africa, a political and cultural critique, (2002) Political and Normative Tensions (2008), etc.

He was the chair of the Task Force on the Establishment of a Truth, Justice, and reconciliation commission before joining KHRC.

He will be the Azimio la Umoja one Kenya coalition campaign think tank.