About

Kivutha Kibwana

Advisory board member

Human rights activist

Kivutha Kibwana is a Kenyan human rights activist, academician, writer, and change-maker. He studied Law at the universities of Nairobi, London (SOAS), Harvard, and George Washington, and later Theology at the African International University.

He was a Law lecturer at the University of Nairobi between 1977and 2002, rising to the positions of Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor.

In the mid-1990s he actively participated in Kenya’s civil society, eventually leading the country’s pro-democracy movement as the Spokesperson for the National Convention Assembly (NCA) and National Convention Executive Council (NCEC) from 1997 to 2002.
This movement helped birth a return to multipartism and Kenya’s 2010 Constitution.
Kibwana joined politics as a Member of Parliament (2003 to 2007).

He served as Assistant Minister in the Office of the President andthereafter Office of the Vice President, as Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, and Minister for Lands. During this period he acted as President of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP 12, held in Nairobi in 2006.

In January 2008 he was appointed Presidential Advisor for Constitutional, Parliamentary and Youth Affairs, discharging such duties until September 2012. He further served two terms as Governor of the sub-national government of Makueni County, from 2013 to 2022.