Kenya law students beat 38 varsities, top in moot court competition
Sidney Tambasi (left) and Martin Kioko (right), students at Kenyatta University School of Law, who won the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition after beating competitors from 38 universities.
Two law students from Kenya have won the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition after beating competitors from 38 universities.
Sidney Tambasi and Martin Kioko, students at Kenyatta University School of Law, won the competition after trouncing a combined team of students from Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique) in the finals at Stellenbosch University, in South Africa last Friday.
The Kenyatta University team shared the podium with Ivory Coast’s Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in a format that sought to find the best English-speaking and French-speaking teams.
Fourth year students
Tambasi and Kioko, who were also finalists of last year’s Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition after beating the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) in the semis, are in their fourth year of study.
Speaking after the announcement, the winning duo thanked Kenyatta University staff for the support they said steered them to victory.
“We are greatly indebted to everyone that supported us and ensured that we make the podium finish,” said Tambasi.
The biggest physical forum in the human rights calendar in Africa, African Human Rights Moot Court Competition brings together students, scholars, practitioners, and leading jurists on the continent for a one-week contest.
The competition runs alongside a human rights conference which has a set date within the week for academics to present papers.
Equality of all
This year’s theme was tailored to focus on equality of all people in the face of Africa’s huge diversities.
During the competition, top students from faculties of Law in African universities argue a hypothetical human rights case as if they were before the African Court on Human and People’s Rights.
This year’s competition marks a milestone that, going forward, will see the event renamed Cristof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court Competition.
This will be in the honour of Prof Heyns, who was a prominent human rights professor based at the University of Pretoria, and was a member of the UN Human Rights Committee.
He passed on in March this year.
