| Reverend Dr. Samuel Kobia is a Chairman, National Cohesion and Integration Commission in the Executive Office of the President. He is the first African to be elected General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (a worldwide fellowship representing more than 590 million Christians). He was appointed the All-Africa Conference of Churches Ecumenical Special Envoy in 2010. He is a professor (honorary) of University of Buenos Aires (Argentina’s oldest university). He holds a Doctor of Divinity (honorary) from Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, 1993 (USA), and Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies from Fairfax University, Louisiana, 2003 (USA). He holds a Master of Arts in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), a diploma in Urban Ministry from McCormick Theological Seminary (USA), and a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from St. Paul’s United Theological College (Kenya). Among his many social, political and ecumenical involvements, in 1992,Dr. Kobia chaired Kenya’s National Election Monitoring Unit, chaired peace talks for Sudan in 1991, helped found the Nairobi Peace Group (1987) and the Fellowship of Councils of Churches in Eastern and Southern Africa (FOCCESA), was vice-moderator of the Commission of the WCC Programme to Combat Racism (1984-91), chaired the Frontier Internship in Mission (FIM) International Coordination Committee (1981-85), and helped reorganize the Zimbabwe Christian Council after independence (1980-81). Between 1987 and 1993, he served as the General Secretary of National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK). In recognition of his position within the ecumenical family in Kenya and beyond, Dr. Kobia was awarded the country’s National Ecumenical Award and appointed chancellor of St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya, in 2007. Dr. Kobia has written numerous papers and articles on Africa, Peace and Ecumenism. His publications reflect his vision and working experience. He is the author of Dialogue Matters: The Role of Ecumenical Diplomacy in the Run-up to the Independence of South Sudan (2013), and South Sudan: Free at Last (2011). |
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