Davinder Lamba has been appointed interim board chairperson of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).
This follows the departure of Prof Makau Mutua, who has stepped aside to focus on his job as spokesperson of Azimio la Umoja Kenya One presidential flag-bearer Raila Odinga’s campaign.
Announcing Mr Lamba’s appointment, the KHRC described him as an exemplary and distinguished human rights and social justice defender who had served on the board for several years.
Prof Makau Mutua; the outgoing chairperson of the Kenya Human Rights Commission board.
“Once described as an activist who bears scars of his battles like a badge of honour, Mr Lamba’s quest for justice stretches back to the early post-independence years making him one of the longest serving and most indefatigable activists in Kenya and beyond,” the KHRC Board of Directors said in a statement.
Rights campaigner
Mr Lamba began his career as a rights campaigner on February 25, 1969, when he was suspended from the University of Nairobi for organising a protest against the cancellation of a public lecture by the then opposition leader Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Mr Lamba has been the executive director of the Mazingira Institute, which was established in 1978, and leader of Operation Firimbi, a whistle-blowing initiative that exposes and confronts corruption and other governance excesses.
KHRC board also said he was the first architecture student to pursue a master’s degree in environmental studies at the Toronto-based York University. BY DAILY NATION