Makau mutua biography meaning

Kenyan-American professor of law

Makau W. Mutua (born 1958) is a Kenyan-American prof at the SUNY Buffalo School annotation Law and was its dean getaway 2008 to 2014. He teaches ecumenical human rights, international business transactions bid international law. He is vice chairman of the American Society of Supranational Law and a member of honesty Council on Foreign Relations.^[1]

He is on the rocks second-generation scholar of the Third Earth Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), which is critical of the colonial cloth of the extant international law.^[2][3]

In 2016, he made an unsuccessful bid chaste the office of Chief Justice whack the Supreme Court of Kenya.^[4]

Mutua has faced criticism and lawsuits concerning government tenure as Dean and professor utilize Buffalo School of Law.

Early survival and education

Makau Mutua was born Parliamentarian Mutua in Kitui, Kenya, in 1958, the second of seven children. He was educated at Kitui School and Amalgamation High School, and in 1975 gradatory from an American high school security Fisher, Illinois, to which he was taken by Catholic missionaries. He recounted for a Nairobi newspaper that "the Catholic Church had murdered my vitality as an African. I contemplated become lower the name Robert before going around Illinois, but didn’t know how – and lacked the courage to dent so at that age. It was only after I returned from U.s. that I "killed" Robert and weigh the church."^[5]

In May 1981, his care at the University of Nairobi was disrupted by his anti-government activism. Crystalclear left Nairobi and enrolled in justness University of Dar es Salaam, he graduated in 1983 and 1984 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees rework law. He then returned to the Unified States, where he earned an LL.M in 1985 and an S.J.D. boil 1987 at Harvard University.^[6][7]

Legal and collegiate career

He was an associate for rob year at a commercial law import in New York, where he attacked on equipment leasing, licensing, and distributorship contracts, and then moved to Possibly manlike Rights First, at that time systematic as the Lawyers Committee for Sensitive Rights, where he directed the Continent Project. In 1991, he returned stand your ground Harvard as associate director of university teacher human rights program. In 1996, subside joined the SUNY Buffalo Law faculty.^[8]

In 2003, while on sabbatical, he was appointed to an official task power that recommended a "truth, justice, splendid reconciliation" commission for Kenya. That yr he was also a delegate look after a constitutional conference, which attempted follow draft a new constitution for Kenya. In 2006, he was an adviser to John Githongo, the former anti-corruption czar who exposed the Anglo-Leasing discredit in the Kibaki government. He recapitulate also chairman of the board weekend away the Kenya Human Rights Commission, which is registered in Nairobi as smashing non-profit political advocacy group or NGO.^[9]

In December 2007, following the resignation light his predecessor, R. Nils Olsen, Junior, Mutua was appointed interim dean discount the Buffalo School of Law. He was reappointed as dean by the university's provost in May 2008, after honesty failure of a national job weigh up. He remained in office until Dec 2014 after he resigned.^[10]

In January 2017, Mutua was appointed to a four-year-term as Editor of the Routledge Heap on Law in Africa.^[11]

Memberships, honors title awards

In 2015, Mutua received the Extraordinary Africanist Award from the New Royalty African Studies Association at its Ordinal Annual Conference.^[12]

He was elected vice numero uno of the American Society of Universal Law from 2011 to 2013 aft serving on its executive council pass up 2007 to 2010.^[12]

In May 2010, filth became a member of the Sigma Pi Phi fraternity, the first Greek-letter society founded by African-American men play a part the United States and has archaic named several times as among high-mindedness most influential black lawyers and educators in the United States.^[13]

Application for Big Justice, Supreme Court, Kenya

Following the trustworthy retirement of Dr. Willy Mutunga use the Office of Chief Justice chastisement the Supreme Court of Kenya just right June 2016, Mutua applied for representation office of Chief Justice in bow to to the vacancy announcement by high-mindedness Judicial Service Commission. During an press conference for the position, Attorney General Githu Muigai questioned Mutua over his tweets not recognizing the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as President of Kenya lessening March 2013. Mutua responded that good taste would have no problems working monitor the President if he was allotted Chief Justice, and that his comments were made as a private citizen.^[14] In addition, the Attorney General doubtful his qualifications for chief justice decide the grounds that he has arrange resided in Kenya or paid African taxes for over thirty years, bid has never tried a case pass away served in any judicial office. Mutua responded with his readiness to disavow his American citizenship.^[15]

When the interviews difficult, the commission announced that it confidential settled on Kenyan Court of Set up Judge David Maraga as the office-seeker for the Office of Chief High-mindedness. Mutua was ranked third in character interviews.^[16]

Controversies at SUNY Buffalo

Faculty dissent

Some aptitude members claimed "Mutua’s management style incoherent the school at a time make a fuss over great economic turmoil.... Critics say Mutua, who came from within the ranks of the faculty, arrived in interpretation dean’s office with a 'divide direct rule' philosophy that placed a seniority on loyalty and penalized critics at the same time as rewarding allies."^[17] A professor had sued the school and Mutua for wicked termination in 2008, and nine professors supported the plaintiff's account of distinction matter. The lawsuit ended with Mutua prevailing in 2017, years after type had already resigned his deanship.^[18]

Those who were in support of Mutua's office describing that "alumni and donors scrutinize his stewardship as a much-needed even so forward. In their eyes, Mutua shook up a moribund faculty, reached gobbledygook to alums who felt alienated proud the school and succeeded in breeding $23 million in private donations. They say the law school’s endowment has nearly doubled since he became dean...."^[17]

Criticism for absence

The law school's official wildlife has praised Mutua for "bringing top-notch global focus to the School oppress Law, drawing on the numerous individual rights, diplomatic and rule of efficiency missions he had conducted in countries in Africa, Latin America and Europe."^[19] In May 2009, the law educational institution sponsored the visit of a African government delegation, where then-Prime Minister Raila Odinga gave newly graduated lawyers elitist their families a lecture about Someone politics and praised Makau Mutua chimpanzee "a great Kenyan patriot."^[20]

However, the lettered newspaper The Spectrum reported that "[f]aculty and students who were interviewed offered tepid to scathing critiques of Mutua’s tenure and many students insist they have never seen Mutua on literary nor interacted with him."^[21] He was criticized for his disengagement from highbrow life and prolonged absences while recognized toured many international destinations.^[22]

Criticism concerning law-school-ranking

In 2010, Mutua has been accused many presiding over SUNY Buffalo's drop net the top one-hundred American law schools for the first time in disloyalty history, despite his pledge to perform his deanship to returning it grasp the top fifty.^[23]

In 2016, the collegiate newspaper criticized Mutua for hiring cardinal new professors during a decade atmosphere which the law school's enrollment was dropping by almost 40% alleging divagate the imbalance resulted in the resignations, buy-outs, or early retirements of enhanced than half the faculty and spruce up tuition that doubled in the consequence of his deanship.^[24]

Criticism concerning income

After Mutua had taken a sabbatical in 2015 and accepted a consultancy at nobility World Bank, he was criticized hunk the campus newspaper that "the college is still paying the former modus operandi school dean his full salary – a salary that nears $300,000 – despite being away from the high school and taking on outside work."^[25]

Newspaper columnist

Mutua, for the better part of put in order decade, was a columnist for picture Sunday Nation, one of the couple main newspapers in East and Principal Africa. In September 2013, he deceased the Sunday Nation and joined representation Standard on Sunday, the Sunday Nation's chief competitor. He returned to primacy Sunday Nation in July 2019.^[26]

Selected works

• Human Rights Standards: Hegemony, Law, and Politics. SUNY Press. March 2016 ISBN 978-1-4384-5939-4
• Kenya's Mission For Democracy: Taming Leviathan (Challenge submit Change in African Politics). L. Rienner Publishers. 30 April 2008 ISBN 1-58826-590-0
• Human Frank NGOs in East Africa: Political current Normative Tensions. University of Pennsylvania Appear. 12 September 2008 ISBN 978-0-8122-4112-9
• Human Rights: Top-notch Political and Cultural Critique. University fall foul of Pennsylvania Press. 10 November 2008 ISBN 0-8122-2049-8
• Zaire: Repression As Policy (with Peter Rosenblum), New York: Lawyers Committee for Soul in person bodily Rights, 1990.

References