Hon. Dr. Otiende Amollo, the Member of Parliament for Rarieda Constituency, Siaya County in the Republic of Kenya, the immediate formerchairperson of the Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman) and Secretary General of the African Ombudsman & Mediators Association (AOMA) is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya of two decades standing, a Notary Public, accredited Mediator, Commissioner for Oaths and a Certified Public Secretary. He holds an LL.B (Hons) degree from the University of Nairobi, and an LL.M (Public Law) degree from the same University. He also holds a Diploma and Certificate (Human Rights & Humanitarian Law) from the Kenya School of Law and Lund University respectively. In recognition of his contributions towards equality, fairness and the cause of human rights, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) by the Senate of the Maseno University in 2014.
Before appointment to chair the Commission on Administrative Justice, he served in the Committee of Experts on Constitutional Review as one of Nine Experts who delivered the Constitution of Kenya 2010. He has also served as Chairman, Secretary and Council member of the International Commission of Jurists ( Kenya Section), Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary General and Council Member of the East Africa Law Society, Council Member of The Law Society of Kenya, Chairperson and Board Member of Action Aid International – Kenya, founder Board Member of KELIN, Board member of The Kituo cha Sheria, and in the Boards of various other public and private entities. He was a founder member of the All Africa Human Rights Pressure Group and The Law Forum of the University Of Nairobi.
Dr. Amollo has researched, presented and participated in many Human Rights and Constitutional Law discourses in Kenya and abroad for the past two decades, and has also litigated on various landmark cases on Human Rights and Constitutional Law nationally and internationally. He has undertaken many consultancies in developing national legislation on Land, Insurance, HIV Legislation, Labour Relations and Environmental laws.
Dr. Amollo has undertaken various Observer and Training Missions in various Countries. In 2003, he was awarded the Antony Dzuya Leadership Award, and also accorded Recognition by the LSK Council in 2002, 2006 and 2007 and by the Board of ICJ Kenya in 2004 and 2006. Together with other Committee Members, he was awarded the 2010 Special Katiba Award by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the Special Mashujaa Award 2010 by the National Council of Community Based Organisations. In October 2010, he was universally elected the Global Alumni of the month for the International Young Leadership Programme of the US Government. On 12th December 2010, he was awarded the Honour of Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS) of the Republic of Kenya for his efforts in constitutional transformation of the Republic.
Dr. Amollo served as Secretary of the Task Force, and key drafter of the HIV and AIDS Control and Management Act. He later drafted and successfully moved for the adoption of the Rules on Senior Counsel in Kenya. For several years, he served as the Editor of the Advocate and the East African Lawyer, being the official journals of Lawyers in Kenya and East Africa respectively. He is a member of the International Bar Association and the Common wealth Law Association among other professional associations.
Apart from serving in the first Ombudsman office of the Republic of Kenya under the new Constitution, he is also the Secretary General of the African Ombudsmen & Mediators Association (AOMA), having been elected to the position at the AOMA General Assembly meeting at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa in November 2014.