Margaret Jepkoech Kamar (born 28 April 1959) is a

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

n politician and the deputy speaker of the Senate. She is the first elected female Deputy Speaker in the history of the Kenyan Senate.She belongs to the Jubilee Alliance Party. She was first elected to represent the

Uasin Gishu County Uasin Gishu County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, counties of Kenya located in the former Rift Valley Province. Eldoret has the county's largest population center as well as its administrative and commercial center. “It lies between longi ...

in the

Senate of Kenya The Senate of the Republic of Kenya is one of the two Houses of the Parliament of Kenya, along with the National Assembly. The Senate was first established as part of Kenya's 1963 Constitution. After being abolished in 1966, the Senate was ...

since 2017 after the 2017 Kenyan parliamentary election.

Biography

Kamar was born on 28 April 1959 in

Keiyo :''Keiyo may also refer to Keiyo, a district in Kenya, ''Keiyo Line'' a railway line in Japan or Elgeyo escarpment'' The Elgeyo (also known as Keiyo) are an ethnic group who are part of the larger Kalenjin ethnic group of Nilotic origin. They liv ...

, Kenya. She obtained a BSc. Hon. in Agriculture in Soil and Water Conservation. She later obtained a Med Soil Science from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Soil and Water Conservation from the Faculty of Forestry and Conservation of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. In 1988, she served as Soils Consultant at

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

during the development of the Desertification Map. She became a professor in Soil Science at

Moi University Moi University is a public university located in Kesses, Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu county, in the former Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It was established in 1984 by the Moi University Act of the Parliament of Kenya, after recommendations from t ...

in 1999 and held various positions at the university. From 1999 to 2006, she was a member of the East African Legislative Assembly and chaired the

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Tourism committee. She also led the delegation to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 2002. Between 2008 and 2010, she was the delegation leader to the African,

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and Pacific and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU JPA). She also served as the Assistant Minister Environment and Mineral Resources from 2010 to 2011 and Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology from 2011 to 2013. In 2013, she became the director at the International Centre for Research in Sustainable Development, a non-governmental organisation.

References

Living people 1959 births Orange Democratic Movement politicians Members of the National Assembly (Kenya) Members of the East African Legislative Assembly Government ministers of Kenya Women government ministers of Kenya Higher education ministers 21st-century Kenyan women politicians 21st-century Kenyan politicians McGill University Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences alumni University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of Moi University Members of the 11th Parliament of Kenya {{Kenya-politician-stub