As he was not allowed by the authorities to leave his country to receive the Prize for Freedom of 1991, LI President Otto Lambsdorff brought it personally to Nairobi in early 1992.

When he was awarded the Prize, Gitobu Imanyara was member of the Forum for the Restoration of the Democracy (FORD)-Asili party. This party split in 1992 into FORD-Asili and FORD-Kenya. He became the Secretary-General of the new FORD-Kenya party. However, in September 1993 he was dismissed from his office and resigned from the party, because of internal dissent concerning ethnic issues.

In 1996 he made a political come-back. He recaptured his Secretary-General position at the FORD-Kenya party election. At the Kenyan general elections of December 1997, he won a regional landslide victory, and he is at present MP for Central Imenti.

He continues to publish his newspaper, which is now called The Africa Law Review.

For his one year long struggle against the one-party rule and for his advocacy of Human Rights, press freedom, and the rule of law, he received the Democratic Award of the National Endowment for Democracy in 1993 (jointly with Han Dongfang from China and Vesna Pesic from Serbia).

Imanyara has a full schedule giving readings and speeches in universities, as well as at training programmes. Moreover, he is member of the International Board of Article XIX, a member of the Advisory Board of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, and also a member of the Media Institute for the advancement of the freedom of expression.