[6] He formerly wrote a regular column for the Daily Nation, but resigned in 2018, citing alleged interference with publishing decisions by the government[7] He now writes for the Standard (Kenya).

"[9] Prior Freedom Award honorees include Chen Guangcheng, Aung San Suu Kyi, Vaclav Havel, the 14th Dalai Lama, Medgar Evers, and Edward R. Murrow.

[2] Kiai is an outspoken supporter of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, arguing that the "involvement of additional actors such as parliamentarians and civil society is critical to democratizing the UN".

[36] Kiai conducted the first ever official country visit to the United States by a UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in July 2016.

In August 2017, Kiai was briefly blocked from flying out of Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport; officials claimed he needed government clearance to leave the country.

[41] A coalition of Kenyan civil society groups reported that they had become aware of a plot involving "a five- or- so man elite squad that has been tasked with the liquidation of, inter alia, Maina Kiai, Chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.