Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat is dead

The late Bethuel Kiplagat photo:courtesy

Former Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) Chairman Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat dies aged 81 at a Nairobi hospital after long illness.

The body has been moved to the Lee Funeral Home.

Former President Mwai Kibaki picked him to head TJRC. However, Kiplagat later stepped down in November 2010 after being pressured to resign by fellow commissioners, civil society groups, human rights activists and the general public.

 Kiplagat was later reinstated as TJRC chairman after the Justice Minister Eugene Wamalwa brokered a truce between him and the other commissioners.

Previously, Kiplagat worked with the National Christian Council of Kenya, served as an Ambassador to France, the High Commissioner to UK, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kiplagat was also the chair of the board of the African Medical and Research Foundation and worked with Kenya's Special Envoy to the Somalia peace process