David Makali has over 27 years’ experience in print and broadcast media as well as civil society as an advocate of press freedom. He was until November 2018 the editorial head of the Radio Africa Group in charge of its online, broadcast and print platforms, including the Star newspaper. Positions held in the past include Managing Editor of the Nairobi Law Monthly, the Sunday Standard as well as director of the Media Institute and editor of the Expression Today media review, which he published for ten years.

He has also been a columnist for the Daily Nation, the Standard, and The Star and a regular resident political analyst for Citizen Tv and commentator for various other stations. In 2015, he was engaged by the UNDP as communications advisor for Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in the run-up to the 2017 General Election.

Mr Makali is a founding member of the Kenya Editors Guild and currently member of its Ethics, Safety and Regulatory Affairs Committee; founding chair of the Eastern Africa Editors Forum and a distinguished activist in the global press freedom movement, human rights and democratization.
More recently, in 2019, he was appointed chairman of the taskforce to look into Information and Public Communication functions of the Kenya government and to align them with emerging public sector
dynamics and Constitutional imperatives.

Mr Makali has written widely on human rights, democracy and governance issues and initiated many initiatives to promote journalism excellence in Kenya and the East Africa region.

He is an alumnae of Moi University (Political Science), University of Nairobi (Journalism) and Columbia University, NY (Journalism).