Dennitah Ghati is a Kenyan politician who is a nominated member of the

Kenya National Assembly 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 ...

, representing people with disabilities. She is a member of the

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 ...

Early life

Dennitah Ghati was born in 1980 in a rural village in

Migori Migori also known as Suna-Migori is a multi-ethnic municipal town which acts as the capital of Migori County, Kenya. The town is located 63 kilometers south of Kisii town and 22 km north of the Tanzanian border. The Migori Metropolitan ...

and attended Kenya Institute of Mass Communication in Nairobi and

Kenyatta University Kenyatta University (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Nairobi County, Kenya. It acquired the status of university in 1985, being the third university after University of Nairobi (1970) and Moi University (1984). As of O ...

before working as a journalist at The East African Standard Newspaper. Ghati obtained a scholarship to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in the USA where she obtained a Master's degree and worked in New York for the American Jewish World Service. She subsequently worked for the League of Kenyan Women Voters and as a program manager for UNICEF Somalia.

Political career

Ghati was elected to the National Assembly at the 2013 general election as the woman representative for

county with a majority of 51%, representing the

. Following the election the Peoples' Democratic Party candidate Fatuma Zainabu Mohammed challenged the election result in court, alleging intimidation, vote buying and bribery. The case was dismissed confirming Ghati's election. In 2014 she was involved in a road traffic accident in which she suffered a broken spine, leaving her permanently disabled. She now uses a wheelchair. In 2017 Ghati was nominated by the ODM to serve in one of the appointed seats in the national assembly as one of 12 members nominated by the political parties. These 12 un-elected seats were introduced by the

Constitution of Kenya The Constitution of Kenya is the supreme lawof the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The 2010 edition replaced the 1963 independence constitu ...

in 2010 to represent the special interests of youth, persons with disabilities and workers. Ghati is a representative of people with disabilities.

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghati, Dennitah Members of the National Assembly (Kenya) Living people 21st-century Kenyan women politicians 21st-century Kenyan politicians 1980 births