Peter Anyang' Nyong'o (born 10 October 1943) is a Kenyan politician and author who is the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Kisumu County Kisumu County is one of 47 counties in the Republic of Kenya. Its borders follow those of the original Kisumu District, one of the former administrative districts of the former Nyanza Province in western Kenya. Its headquarters is Kisumu City ...

. He is a former Secretary-General of

Orange Democratic Movement The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is a centre-left political party in Kenya. It is the successor of a grassroots people's movement which was formed during the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum campaign. This movement separated in Augu ...

(the current Secretary-General is Edwin Sifuna). Professor Nyong'o was the acting party leader from March 11 until late May when

Raila Odinga Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...

was in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and was elected to the

National Assembly of Kenya The National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya is one of the two Houses of the Parliament of Kenya. Between 1966 and 2013, it served as a unicameral house. In 2013 ( 11th Parliament), it became the lower house when the Senate was reestablish ...

in the December 2007 parliamentary election, representing the

Kisumu Rural Constituency Kisumu Rural Constituency was a former electoral constituency in Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Na ...

. He was the Minister for Medical Services and previously the Minister for Planning & National Development. He previously served as the

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of Kisumu from 2013 to 2017.

Life and career

Nyong'o was born in Ratta,

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Kenya by population, third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victor ...

British Kenya British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. He completed his undergraduate studies at Uganda's

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...

, where he was awarded a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. He Served as Guild president of Makerere in 1969/70. He thereafter proceeded to his graduate and postgraduate studies at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he obtained an MA and a PhD in political science in 1977. Nyong'o took teaching positions at the

University of Nairobi , mottoeng = In unity and work , image = Uon emblem.gif , image_size = 210px , caption = Coat of Arms of the University , type = Public , endowment ...

, where he was a professor of

and a visiting professor in universities in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

, where he served until 1987, before taking up the position of head of programs at the African Academy of Sciences. He was a member of the Kenyan Senate representing

from March 4, 2013 to August 8, 2017 having been elected on an ODM (Orange Democratic Movement) Party ticket. He is a former Member of Parliament for

Kisumu Rural constituency Kisumu Rural Constituency was a former electoral constituency in Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Na ...

, having been elected on a NARC ticket in the December 2002. His political career dates back to 1992, when he was first elected to parliament. He served as a nominated MP from 1998 to 2002. From 2003 to 2005, Nyong'o served as the Minister for Planning and National Development, and from 2008 to 2013 he was the Minister for Medical Services. He is credited for actively engaging in the movement for Kenya's second liberation during the previous KANU regime. For his contribution to scholarship and democratization, Nyong'o received a German-African Award in 1995. From October to December 2013, Nyong'o was a Brundtland Senior Leadership Fellow at the

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

. In this role, he taught a course in the Department of Global Health and Population titled "Leadership Development in Global Health and Policy-Making in Kenya: The Case of Four Parastatals." His children are

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winning actress

Lupita Nyong'o Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Lupita Nyong'o, several accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award, and nominations for ...

, fashion designer Fiona Nyong'o, Esperanza Wamoni Nyong'o, businesswoman Zawadi Nyong'o, and Peter Nyong'o, who plays soccer as a goalkeeper.

References

External links

Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nyong'o, Anyang' Members of the National Assembly (Kenya) Living people Members of the Senate of Kenya Orange Democratic Movement politicians Government ministers of Kenya Makerere University alumni University of Chicago alumni Kenyan Luo people 1945 births Kenyan Luo politicians People from Kisumu County Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences