Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa Names George Kegoro Executive Director

The Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA) has appointed Mr George Kegoro its new Executive Director.

He will lead the development and implementation of its regional strategy to meaningfully promote human rights, democracy, and economic justice in east Africa and the Horn.

“George brings vast knowledge and experience of the region and is regarded as one of the leaders in the human rights space in Kenya and around Africa,” said Patrick Gaspard, Open Society Foundations’ (OSF) president, when making the announcement.

George takes over OSIEA’s leadership from Mburu Gitu, who has led the regional foundation for eight years.

“It is a great privilege for me to become part of the wonderful Open Society Foundations team and for a chance to contribute to the highly consequential work the Foundations are involved in. I look forward to contributing to the Foundations’ reputation of boldness and innovation in supporting the search for solutions to the problems that confront humanity,” noted George.

George is a human rights lawyer with a long history of civil rights and pro-democracy advocacy. He joins OSIEA from the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) where he was the Executive Director responsible for leading efforts to advance human rights in Kenya.

Prior to that, George was Executive Director of the Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya) where he was responsible for steering the organisation to promote human rights, justice and democracy in Kenya and around Africa. He was also previously the Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of Kenya’s bar association, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), responsible for managing relationships with members, the public, the Judiciary and the government.

Over the years, George has contributed to shaping Kenyan public opinion on human rights, elections, democracy, rule of law among other issues by publishing a weekly column in The Sunday Nation and the Sunday Standard, two leading Kenyan newspapers.

George holds a Master of Arts in International Conflict Management and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi, Kenya.