Samuel Kimeu is a governance and anti-corruption expert with over twenty years’ experience. He is currently the Executive Director of Africa’s Voices Foundation (AVF). He served as a member of the African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption, for two two-year terms after election in July 2019 and re-election in October 2021. He previously served as the Executive Director, Transparency International-Kenya (2010-2020), and the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (2005-2006). He was the Governance Specialist at the Embassy of Finland in Nairobi (2007-2010). Samuel is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya of over 20 years standing and holds a Master of Laws degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi in 1999.
Samuel is a member of both the Law Society of Kenya and the East African Law Society and taught law at the Kenyatta University School of Law (2009-2010). He has also served as an elected member of the International Board of Transparency International (Elected in October 2017). At the African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption, he is chaired the Asset Recovery Working Group and the Strategy Working Group.
Samuel has extensive footprints in ethics and anti-corruption in Kenya and beyond where he spearheaded civil society efforts in advocating for laws and institutional frameworks and enforcement for the effective implementation of Chapter six of the Constitution of Kenya. He has written and spoken extensively on matters of leadership, ethics and integrity in Kenya including making legislative and policy input and proposals. He co-led the award winning Red Card Campaign in 2017 that sought to place issues of ethics and integrity at the centre of the elections in that year. He has provided thought leadership on the administrative, legal and judicial enforcement of Chapter six. More recently, he has provided thought support to the Red Card Campaign in the 2022 elections. Samuel has been pivotal in overseeing The Kenya De-risking project typologies report with colleagues from the Sentry and Kenya Human Rights Commission. He has made a significant contribution to the collaborative work of advocacy organisations which achieved the adoption of the ‘Common African Position on Asset Recovery’ at a continental level with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.