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It is with great sadness that the Centre for Human Rights learnt of the death of Steve Odero Ouma. Steve was a member of the LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) class of 2005. He passed away on 23 February, after having been admitted to hospital. The autopsy revealed that Steve had advanced gastrointestinal cancer and neither surgery or chemotherapy would have saved his life.

In 2005, one of the field trip destinations of the LLM students was Sierra Leone. I was fortunate enough to go with this group, of which Steve was part. On this trip, I got to know him as someone who could be playful and mischievous, but also extremely serious about issues affecting our continent, and as an inquisitive, determined and dedicated student.

After completing his LLM at the Centre, Steve was awarded a bursary to undertake doctoral studies at the Luiss University of Rome, in Italy. By focusing on the challenges to constitution-making in Africa in his thesis (“Constitutional Mechanisms for the Management and Settlement of Identity Conflict: The cases of Sudan, Kenya and Somalia”, see web site http://eprints.luiss.it/997/1/20110621-odero-ouma-tesi.pdf), Steve was one of the alumni to really take the ‘democratisation’ part of the LLM programme to heart. After completing his doctoral studies, he pursued an academic career, and in 2011 he was appointed as senior lecturer at the School of Law, Jomo Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya.

Last year, the Centre for Human Rights invited Steve to teach part of the ‘democratisation’ element of the LLM programme. The outrageously favourable student assessment (a score of 98% from the class) is evidence of his knowledge of the field, and his outstanding qualities as a teacher. We invited Steve back to teach again in 2012, and he was scheduled to teach on the programme in two weeks’ time.

Steve contributed a chapter (on the politics of international criminal justice and the ICC’s arrest warrant for President Al Bashir) to the collection of essays by alumni on criminal justice in Africa (C Murungu and J Biegon (eds) Prosecuting international crimes in Africa (Pretoria: PULP, 2011). He was also in the process of editing a collection of essays on constitution making in Africa.

Our condolences go to his family and many friends. Together with them, we remember Steve Odero Ouma very fondly. We will all miss him, indeed.

The funeral will be held on 9 March 2012. For more details contact Agnes Ouma Tel: +254-722 823 494 (Kenya)

- Frans Viljoen (Director, Centre for Human Rights) on behalf of the Centre and its staff