Gibson Kamau Kuria

Last updated

Gibson Kamau Kuria (born 3 March 1947 in Mahiga Location, Othaya Division, Nyeri District) is a Kenyan lawyer and a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for 1988. [1]

Contents

Early education

Kuria started his formal education at Mahiga Intermediate School from 1954 to 1961 before going on to high school at Kagumo High School from 1962 to 1967.

Higher education

Kuria graduated in March 1971 with a Bachelor of Laws degree (Upper Division) at the then University of East Africa, University College, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. He then pursued a Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford University. He was awarded the Doctorate of Laws by Lewis & Clark Law School, Oregon, US, because of his human rights work.

Career

In May 1971 Kuria was appointed a tutorial fellow in the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi, where he taught law and carried out research between then and September 1972 and 1975. In 1974 he was appointed lecturer, Faculty of Law, by the University of Nairobi, where he taught law and researched between 1974 and 26 February 1987, when he was arrested and detained without trial until 12 December 1987, publishing articles on the rule of law, legal education, legal profession, human rights, and family law. In 1975 he started legal activism with a few practicing lawyers in the Kenya bar, including Paul Muite, former Attorney-General of Kenya Amos Wako, and two other attorneys.

Since 1975, Kuria has published many articles on constitutionalism, rule of law, human rights, legal education, family law, and succession in such scholarly journals as The East African Law Journal. During this time he also represented Wanyiri Kihoro, against the State over violations against Human Rights committed against Mr Kihoro whilst in detention in the famous Nyayo House torture chambers. he was arrested and spent time detained without charge at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison for his involvement in the case whilst his partner in his law firm Kiraitu Murungi was forced into exile. [2] [3]

In July 1995 he was elected secretary general of the East Africa Law Society. In this capacity, Kuria devised programs for promoting regional integration with a view to establishing an East African federal state to be served by a Federal bar Association and published two articles on how to establish an East African federal state and enforce a Bill of Rights. He served in that position until April 1998. Between 1997 and 1998 Kuria served as the vice-chairman of the Law Society of Kenya, rising to chairman from March 1999 to 2001. This bar association has been in the forefront in the struggle to restore constitutionalism, On 22 February 2003 he was appointed by the president a member of a tribunal to enquire into allegations of the Chief Justice's inability to discharge the functions of his office; the CJ resigned about a week after the setting up of the commission. On 28 March 2003, Kuria was appointed by the president to serve as assisting counsel in the commission to enquire into the Goldenberg scandal.

Awards and achievements

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kikuyu people</span> Ethnic group in Kenya

The Kikuyu are a Bantu ethnic group native to East Africa Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making them Kenya's largest ethnic group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safina (political party)</span> Political party in Kenya

Safina is a political party in Kenya, founded by palaeoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey together with lawyer Paul Muite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amos Wako</span> Attorney General of Kenya

Amos Wako is a former Attorney General of Kenya and the first senator for Busia County from 2013 to 2022. Wako won the senatorial seat after defeating former minister of finance Chris Okemo. He won the senator seat on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) being led by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Wako currently serves as Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Constitutional Experts for Drafting the EAC Political Federation Constitution, the committee drafting the constitution for the East African Confederation.

Joe Oloka-Onyango is a Ugandan lawyer and academic. He is a Professor of Law at Makerere University School of Law where he has also formerly been Dean and Director of the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC). He is married to Prof Sylvia Tamale, also a lawyer, academic and activist. They have two sons; Kwame Sobukwe Ayepa and Samora Okech Sanga.

Kiraitu Murungi is a Commissioner at the Kenya Law Reform Commission and the former governor of Meru County in Kenya. He is a former long-serving member of parliament for South Imenti constituency (1992-2013), former cabinet minister, and former senator for Meru County.

Charles Mūgane Njonjo was a Kenyan lawyer who served as Attorney General of Kenya from 1963 to 1979, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and the member of Parliament for Kikuyu Constituency from 1980 to 1983.

Martha Wangari Karua is a Kenyan politician. She is a former long-standing member of parliament for Gichugu Constituency and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. She was Minister for Justice until resigning from that position in April 2009. She has consistently fought for the protection of women's rights and improvements to the democratic process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Munya</span> Kenyan politician

Peter Gatirau Munya is the immediate former Cabinet Secretary of Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture. He took over the ministry on 14 January 2020 after being transferred from the Ministry of Trade and Industrialization. He also served in the same capacity in the ministry of East African Community and Northern Corridor Development.

Kakai Kissinger is a Kenyan human rights activist and attorney. Trained in international trade law at the University of Turin, Faculty of Law, in Italy (2003), he received further training in 2007 in human rights and constitutional law at Harvard Law School in the US.

Makau W. Mutua is a Kenyan-American professor at the SUNY Buffalo School of Law and was its dean from 2008 to 2014. He teaches international human rights, international business transactions and international law. He is vice president of the American Society of International Law and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Aaron Gitonga RingeraE.B.S. is a Kenyan lawyer who served as a judge and as the former director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC). He was born in Githongo, Meru.

Judge Eugene Cotran was a circuit judge in England and one of the main jurists in charge of the drafting of a Basic Law of Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willy Mutunga</span> 13th Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya

Willy Munyoki Mutunga, EGH is a Kenyan lawyer, intellectual, reform activist, and was the Commonwealth Special Envoy to the Maldives. He is also an active member of the Justice Leadership Group. He is the retired Chief Justice of Kenya and President of the Supreme Court of Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Issack Hassan</span> Kenyan lawyer and civil servant

Ahmed Issack Hassan is a Kenyan lawyer and public servant.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) is an organization mandated to advise and assist members of the legal profession, the government and the larger public in all matters relating to the administration of justice in Kenya.

Wanjiru Kihoro was an economist, writer and feminist activist from Kenya. She was one of the founders of the pan-African women's organisation Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) and the [for the Release of Political Prisoners in Kenya] (CRPPK), to protest the incarceration of Kenyans during Daniel arap Moi's regime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Daniel Moi</span> Era of Daniel Mois governance

The presidency of Daniel arap Moi began on 22 August 1978, when Daniel arap Moi was sworn in as the 2nd President of Kenya, and ended on 30 December 2002. Moi, a KANU party member, took office following the death of the then president Jomo Kenyatta on the same day. He was sworn as interim president for 90 days during which the country was to prepare for a presidential election to be held on 8 November. Moi won reelections in 1988, 1992 and 1997, defeating Mwai Kibaki in the latter two elections. He was succeeded by Mwai Kibaki in 2002. He died at the age of 95 on 4 February 2020

Kennedy Musyoka Kalonzo is a Kenyan lawyer and politician, who is a member of the fourth East African Legislative Assembly (2017—2022), representing Kenya.

Veronica Isala Eragu Bichetero is a Ugandan politician and lawyer member of the Parliament of Uganda for Kaberamaido District since 2016

Samson Mwita Marwa (1932–2022), also known as Mwita Nyagakende, was a Kenyan teacher and politician who served in the National Assembly of Kenya from 1969 until 1974 as a member of the Kenya African National Union.

References

  1. ↑ "Robert F Kennedy Center Laureates". Archived from the original on 7 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "kituochakatiba.co.ug". kituochakatiba.co.ug. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  3. ↑ KENYAN PRESIDENT FREES 4 DETAINEES http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0717F735590C778CDDAF0894D1484D81
  4. ↑ Kenya Lawyer Wins Kennedy Rights Award
  5. ↑ Kenya Bars Rights Lawyer From Visiting U.S. By JANE PERLEZ, Special to the New York Times Published: 24 September 1988 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB071EF83A540C778EDDA00894D0484D81
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.