Nakuru human rights defender David Kuria 'Western' nominated for prestigious Munir Mazrui Lifetime Achievement award for the second time

Nakuru-based human rights defender David Kuria, popularly known as ‘Western’, has been nominated for the Munir Mazrui Lifetime Achievement Award in the Kenya's Annual Human Rights Defender Awards.

The nomination marks the second time Kuria has been chosen for the award, having previously been nominated in 2022 in the same category, which that time went to a defender from Mombasa.

This year, he faces competition from at least one other nominee, Khelef Khalifa, from Lamu County.

His journey in human rights stretches back more than three decades, rooted in Kenya's turbulent push for political pluralism. He says he was among those who fought alongside the Relief Political Prisoners Pressure Group and championed the cause during the struggle for multi-partism.

Then, when words alone were not enough, he took to the streets - walking from Nakuru to Nairobi as part of a Catholic Diocese-supported freedom march to deliver a memorandum to then Attorney General Amos Wako, which led to the eventual release of political prisoners.

As founder of the Nakuru County Human Rights Network, Kuria has spent his time doing the unglamorous work of human rights defense, which has included documenting extrajudicial killings, monitoring enforced disappearances, and pursuing gender-based violence cases that might otherwise die quietly in police drawers.

Among the notable cases he has championed is that of Brian Odhiambo, a 31-year-old fisherman who was last seen on January 18, 2025, allegedly being forced into a Kenya Wildlife Service vehicle near Lake Nakuru National Park.

Kuria has been among the human rights defenders who have kept pressure on the case, pursuing it through the courts while the family continues to wait for answers.

He has also been a fierce advocate for Nakuru's street children, a community often invisible to formal systems. After engaging the county's medical superintendent, Kuria successfully lobbied for street children to access free medical care at public hospitals, and today, no street child in Nakuru can be turned away or held over unpaid bills.

The Munir Mazrui Lifetime Achievement Award is part of the Annual Human Rights Defender Awards, organised by the Defenders Coalition, which seeks to formally recognise the work defenders do often at great personal risk and with little public acknowledgment.

Kuria’s second nomination, he says, is meaningful not just for him, but for the broader community of defenders who work in the shadows.

“It feels good getting nominated, and it is a good way of recognising and awarding the people in this field. Human rights defense is a calling that feels good when appreciated by others,” he says, adding that the recognition may give courage to human rights defenders.

Nakuru County is no stranger to this recognition as Willy Oeba, a spoken word artist and activist from the county, won the Upcoming Human Rights Defender of the Year Award in 2021.

The winner of this year's Munir Mazrui Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced on March 27 in Nairobi.