MEET NOMINEE 6 OF 7 IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORY  – JOHN ALLAN NAMU

John-Allan is a Kenyan investigative journalist and the co-founder of Africa Uncensored. He has been a journalist for 17 years and has spent considerable time focusing on numerous social justice issues. Notable among these is his journalistic work about excessive use of force, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated by Kenya’s security agencies. His most recent work on the subject is titled “Justice be our shield”, a documentary profiling the planning and execution of a murder plot against human rights lawyer and investigator Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and their driver Joseph Muiruri. 

Africa Uncensored, the organization he co-founded in 2015, is earning a reputation for honest, incisive, and hard-hitting journalism, both locally and on the African continent. The organization’s goal to investigate, expose and empower is founded on the belief in the power of investigative and in-depth journalism as a force for good. John-Allan hopes that his work as a journalist will inspire coming generations of journalists to hold power to account, doing so professionally and with passion for Africa.

John-Allan is the 2015 and 2017 joint journalist of the year Annual Journalism Excellence Awards, a 2019 Global Shining light award winner, a 2019 Trace International Prize on investigative journalism winner, and the 2009 CNN African Journalist of the Year. He is a 2009 CNN fellow and a 2017 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow. He holds a BA in Journalism from the United States International University – Africa and is pursuing an Executive master’s degree in media leadership and innovation. He is married and lives in Nairobi with his wife and four children.