Kenneth K. Mwenda, PhD, LLD, DSc(Econ)
Rhodes Scholar.

A recipient of several esteemed scholarly awards, Professor Kenneth K. Mwenda is a Rhodes Scholar and an alumnus of the University of Oxford and Harvard University John F Kennedy School of Government. He has also attended Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Business School (HBS), Institut Européan d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, London Business School (LBS), and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. In 1998, Professor Mwenda was recipient of a prestigious scholarly award from Yale University Law School.

Until 2019, Professor Mwenda was the only known legal scholar in the entire English-speaking world with two earned Higher Doctorates in two different disciplines. As noted below, he obtained both Higher Doctorates from two leading universities. In addition, he also holds the doctoral degree of PhD in Law from another leading university (see below). The concept of an earned Higher Doctorate that is very significantly higher than a PhD is one that is rare in the United States and Canada, but more established in the UK, Ireland and other Commonwealth countries. Higher Doctorates, it should be emphasized, are very rarely awarded. They are reserved for those senior scholars that have made exceedingly significant contributions to a science or body of knowledge through exceptionally insightful and distinctive scholarly publications, earning them recognition as international authorities in the field of research that forms the basis of the degree.

At the World Bank in Washington DC, Professor Mwenda serves as the Manager and Head of the World Bank’s Voice Secondment Program (VSP). He has also served as Senior Counsel in the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency. In addition, he served previously as Senior Counsel in the Integrity Vice-Presidency of the World Bank. A distinguished interdisciplinary scholar, Professor Mwenda has taught at leading universities in three different continents, namely, North America, Europe and Africa. Closely related to that, he has advised several governments around the world on major policy reforms.

In Europe, Professor Mwenda served as an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Warwick from 1995 to 1998. He also served as Visiting Full Professor of Law at the University of Miskolc in Hungary. In North America, Professor Mwenda has taught as Adjunct Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law (WCL) in Washington DC. He has also given lead lectures and presentations at major US universities, including George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Duke University, Temple University, Howard University, and the University of South Florida.

In Africa, Professor Mwenda has held distinguished academic appointments as Extraordinary Professor of Law at two leading South African universities, namely, the University of Western Cape (UWC) and the University of Pretoria, respectively. In addition, he has served as Visiting Full Professor of Law at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in Cape Town, South Africa, as well as at the University of Zambia (UNZA). Professor Mwenda is also Extraordinary Professor of Law at the University of Lusaka (UNILUS) and has served previously as Visiting Faculty at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) Faculty of Law. In 2015, he gave the 2015 Distinguished Lecture at the University of Nairobi Law School in Kenya. Professor Mwenda continues to supervise and examine several doctoral theses and dissertations at a number of leading universities in various countries. In June 2021, he was elected by the Zambia Academy of Sciences, the highest scientific and academic national statutory body for the advancement of science and knowledge, as a Fellow of that academy. Election to the rank of Fellow of the said academy is reserved for those individuals who have made substantial contributions to the advancement of knowledge.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Professor Mwenda is author of close to thirty (30) scholarly books and more than a hundred (100) articles in leading academic journals worldwide. His scholarly work has been cited as authority not only in academia, but also by the courts of law (e.g. Ruling of the Supreme Court for the Republic of Zambia in Ventriglia and Ventriglia v. Eastern and Southern Africa Trade and Development Bank and Robert Simeza SCZ NO. 13 OF 2010 (Appeal No. 11/ 2009)). His other scholarly work has been seminal in some of the research work and country assessments carried out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

In 2008 and 2014, respectively, after a rigorous and thorough examination of Professor Mwenda’s selected scholarly books and peer-refereed journal articles by two leading universities in South Africa and the United Kingdom, namely, Rhodes University and the University of Hull, Professor Mwenda was admitted to the rarely awarded Higher Doctorate degrees of Doctor of Laws (Rhodes, LLD, 2008) and Doctor of Science in Economics (Hull, DSc(Econ), 2014). He also holds a PhD in Law from another leading British university, the University of Warwick.

Professor Mwenda is a highly sought-after speaker and has been interviewed and quoted by numerous print and broadcast media, including the New York Times (USA), the Voice of America (VOA, USA), CCTV (USA), the Times (UK), the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, UK), and Sky TV (UK).